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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
effi\5"l 

Chap..__. Copyright No.. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 








' *tK 



Gleason's 
VETERINARY HAND-BOOK 



and 



System of Horse Taming 



IN TWO PARTS 



PART I 

Theory and Practice of Veterinary Science — Diseases of Horses, Cattle, 
Sheep, Poultry, Swine, Dogs and Birds, and their Remedies. 

PART II 
System of Horse Taming. 



Edited by 

Oliver W- Gleason 



ILLUSTRATED 



PHILADELPHIA 

JOHN B. POTTER & 







Copyright 

By JOHN E. POTTER & COMPANY, LTD. 

1897 






^ 



> 






PREFACE. 



The human race has very largely emancipated itself 
from the old school of medical science which prescribed 
the lancet, calomel and rhubarb for nearly all ailments; 
and now we think it is about time to free our friends, 
the dumb brutes of the farm yard, from the attacks of 
those veterinary quacks who know little or nothing 
except blood-letting, " firing," drenching, and other bar- 
barous customs long ago proved to be not only useless, 
but absolutely unnecessary, brutal and harmful. 

The aim of the editor has been to make a book free 
from literary nicety and labored effort — clear, concise and 
accurate — carefully eschewing the injurious system of 
bleeding, blistering, firing and physicking, and presenting 
the very latest and best approved methods of modern 
veterinary science in such a plain and direct way that 
the knowledge here given may be available to every 
reader. 

This Hand-Book is based very largely upon the 
works of Eobert McClure, M. D., V. S., one of the most 
celebrated, and perhaps the most uniformly successful 
veterinarian this country has ever produced. The 
methods of treating diseases of domestic animals are 



VI PREFACE. 

based upon the results of actual practice, not mere theory, 
as is the case with most veterinary works. The modes 
of treatment here given may be relied upon absolutely, 
having been tried and proved; and the descriptions of 
symptoms, signs of disease, etc., are unusually full and 
distinct. 

The treatise on " Diseases of Sheep " deserves special 
mention, having been generally accepted as the most 
reliable treatise on this important subject yet given to 
the public. 

At my earnest request the Publishers have consented 
to place the Veterinary Hand-Book upon the market 
at an extremely low price. I am convinced that a large 
circulation of this volume will have the effect of cor- 
recting many errors that exist not only in the minds of 
stock-owners, but in the practice of many veterinary 
surgeons; and this result, rather than pecuniary gain, 
has been the motive which prompted the preparation 
of this work. 

OLIVER W. GLEASON. 
Philadelphia, April 15, 1889. 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

PASS 

Breathing, ........... 34 

Causes of Disease, ....••■•..29 

Fever, 33 

How to Observe Diseases, 30 

Principles of Disease, 31 

Pulse, . 34 

Treatment of Disease, ......••••35 

Vis Medicatrix Naturse, ......... 36 

DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

Abrasion, ..39 

Abscess, • ... 40 

Acari, ..40 

Accidents, ............40 

Aconite, ....••••.....41 

Alteratives, 41 

Amaurosis, . . .. 41 

Anaemia, ....••..••..41 

Anchylosis, ....••••••••41 

Aneurism, ....••••••••41 

Apoplexy, ............ 42 

Aphtha, •••••..43 

Atrophy, .............43 

Black Sinuses, ......•••••43 

Baldness, ...*....•••• 43 

Belly-ache, 43 

Big Head, 43 

Bishoping, ...•••••••••44 

Bite of Mad Dog, 44 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Bladder Diseases, •••••••••.45 

Bleeding, •••••••••...45 

Bloody Urine, •••••••....48 

Blood, 48 

Boils, ...••, 49 

Bots , 49 

Bowels, Disease of, 49 

Brain Diseases, ........ ...49 

Breaking Down, •••••••...50 

Breathing Short, 50 

Breeze Flies, .••••••....50 

Brittle Feet, 50 

Bronchi, 50 

Bronchitis .....50 

Bronchocele, ...........52 

Broken Knees, ...........53 

Bruises of the Sole, 54 

Burns and Scalds, ...........54 

Bursa Mucosa, Enlarged, .........54 

Calculi, 54 

Cancers, ......... ...54 

Canine Rabies, 55 

Capped Elbow, ...........55 

Capped Hock, 56 

Carditis, ........... .56 

Caries, 57 

Castration, .....••...••57 

Cataract, 58 

Catarrh, 58 

Cautery, ....58 

Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis, 58 

Chest Diseases 59 

Chest Founder, 59 

Chilblains, 59 

Chill 59 

Choking, 59 

Chorea 60 

Cold 60 

Cold Lotions, 61 

Colic, 61 

Coma, 64 

Congestion of the Lungs, 64 

Constipation, .....64 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Consumption, 64 

Contagion, 65 

Contraction, 66 

Convalescence, 66 

Corns, G6 

Coryza Gangrenosa, 66 

Corrosive Sublimate, 66 

Cough, ...66 

Counter-irritants, 66 

Cow Hock, 66 

Cramp, .... 67 

Crib-Biting, 67 

Curb, 68 

Curby Hocked, ....68 

Cutaneous Diseases, 68 

Cutting, ..68 

Death, • . . 68 

Debility, 68 

Deformities, 70 

Deuteropathia, 70 

Diabetes, 70 

Diaphoretics, 71 

Diarrhoea, 71 

Diathesis, 72 

Diet, 72 

Disinfectants, 72 

Distemper, . . . . .75 

Diuretics, '....75 

Dropsies, 75 

Dysentery, .76 

Ear Diseases, 76 

Ecchymosis, .....77 

Eczema, 77 

Elephantiasis, 77 

Embrocation, 77 

Emetics, 77 

Emphysema, 77 

Encysted Tumors, 78 

Encephaloid, 78 

Endermic, 78 

Enema, 78 

Enteritis 78 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Enzootic, 78 

Ephemeral, 78 

Epidemic, 78 

Epizootic, 78 

Epilepsy 79 

Epiphora, 79 

Epsom Salts, 79 

Eruptions, • . . . . . 79 

Erysipelas, 79 

Exostosis, 79 

Eye Diseases, .....79 

False Quarter, 86 

Farcy, 86 

Fatty Tumor, 90 

Farrier, 90 

Fever, Putrid, 90 

Fever, Sympathetic, 90 

Fever in the Feet 91 

Fibroma, 91 

Firing Horses, 91 

Fistula, 91 

Fistula in the Foot, 93 

Fistulous Withers, 93 

Fits, 93 

Flaxseed, 94 

Food, Hints on 94 

Fomentations, 96 

Foot Diseases, 97 

Founder, 106 

Fractures, 108 

Fracture of the Hip, 110 

Frost Bites, 112 

Fungi, as a Cause of Disease, ........ 112 

Gangrene, 113 

Gastritis Mucosa, 113 

Glanders, 116 

Glass Eye, 120 

Gleet, Nasal, ... 120 

Granulation, 120 

Gravel in the Foot, 120 

Grease, 121 

Gripes, 123 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Grogginess, 123 

Grunter, - 123 

Gullet, Obstructions in, ......... 123 

Gun-shot Wound, 123 

Gutta Serena, 124 

Heart, Diseases of, 124 

Heaves, ..•■•••••••• 126 

Heat, 128 

Hepatic Diseases, .......*•• 128 

Hernia, .....•••■•••* 128 

Herpes, 128 

Hereditary Diseases, 128 

Hide Bound 129 

Hip-joint Disease, 130 

Hock, The .131 

Hooks in the Eyes, ....*••••• 132 

Horse, Natural History of, 132 

Horse Fly, 132 

Humanity to A.nimals, Hints on, ....... 132 

Hydrothorax, 137 

Hydrocele, 137 

Hydronemia, 137 

Hydrophobia, 137 

Hypertrophy, ........... 138 

Hypodermic, 138 

Hysteria 138 

Indigestion, 139 

Infection, 139 

Inflammation, 140 

Influenza, ............ 140 

Injections, ............ 141 

Instruments, 142 

Intestines, 144 

Itch, . 144 

Interfering, 144 

Jack, 145 

Jaundice, 145 

Joint Diseases, 145 

Jugular Vein, Inflammation of, 146 

Kidneys, Diseases of, 146 

Knees, Broken, 147 



CONTENTS. 

ua 

Knee Joint, Loose Cartilages in, 147 

Knuckling, 147 

Lameness, 148 

Laminitis, 148 

Lampas, 148 

Laryngitis, 148 

Leg, Fractures of, . . 149 

Lice, 149 

Ligaments, ............ 149 

Lipoma, 149 

Liver, 149 

Locked-jaw, 150 

Loins, 152 

Loss of Appetite. Lumbago. Lungs, 153 

Lymph. Lymphangitis, 157 

Madness, 157 

Mad Staggers, 157 

Maggots, 158 

Malignant 158 

Malignant, Epidemic, 158 

Mallenders, 158 

Mange, 158 

Materia Medica, 159 

Megrims, 159 

Melanosis, 159 

Melanoid, 159 

Mesentery, , 159 

Mesenterica, 159 

Metastasis, 160 

Moon Blindness, 160 

Mortification, 160 

Moribund, 160 

Mouth Diseases, c . 160 

Mucus, 162 

Mucous Membrane, 162 

Myalgia, 162 

Narcotics 163 

Nasal Gleet, 163 

Navicular Disease, ..*..... . 163 

Necrosis, 163 

Nephritis, 164 



CONTENTS. 

FACIE 

Nervousness, » • • • • 164 

Neurotomy, • 165 

Nose, Diseases of, 165 

Numbness, 166 

Obesity, 166 

GEdema, 166 

GEstromania, 166 

Omentum, .......••••• 166 

Open Joints, 166 

Ophthalmia, 166 

Ossification, .......«••• 166 

Osteology, • 167 

Osteoporosis •••••• 167 

Ostitis, 167 

Overreach, 167 

Ozena, 167 

Palliatives, 167 

Paralysis, 167 

Parotid Duct, 168 

Pathology 169 

Patella, Dislocation of, 169 

Pasterns, 170 

Pelvis, ....... 170 

Pelvic Abscess, 170 

Penis Hanging Out, 171 

Peristaltic, 171 

Peritonitis, 171 

Periosteum, 172 

Phagadena, 172 

Phlebitis, 173 

Phlegmasia, Dolens, ..........173 

Phrenitis, 173 

Physiology, ..... ...... 173 

Physicking, 173 

Pleurisy, 174 

Pleuro-pneumonia, . . . . ...... 174 

Pleurodynia, 174 

Plethora, 174 

Pneumonia, •• 174 

Poisons, 174 

Poll Evil, 176 

Polypi, 178 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Predisposing Causes 178 

Prick of the Foot, 178 

Probang, 178 

Procidenta, 179 

Prognosis, 179 

Prophylactics, 179 

Proud Flesh, 179 

Prurigo, 179 

Pulse, 180 

Puncture, 180 

Purgatives, 180 

Purpura, 180 

Pus, 181 

Putrefaction, 181 

Putrid Fever, 182 

Pyemia, 182 

Quack Medicines 182 

Quinsy, 182 

Quittor, 182 

Rabies, . ... . . .183 

Rachitis, 183 

Resolution, 183 

Respiration, 183 

Revulsion, 184 

Rheumatism, 184 

Ring-bone, 186 

Ringworm, 187 

Roaring, 187 

Round Bone, 188 

Rowels, 188 

Ruptures, 188 

Saddle Galls, 192 

Sallenders, 193 

Saliva, 193 

Salivation 193 

Sand Cracks 194 

Sanious Pus, 194 

Scalds, 194 

Scald Mouth, . 194 

Scarlatina 194 

Scratches, 194 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Schirris, 194 

Scouring, ..•••.••■•.. 194 
Scrotum, ............ 194 

Scurf, 19^ 

Secretion, ............ 195 

Sedatives, ............ 195 

Serum, ............ 195 

Serous Abscess, ..•••...... 19., 

Seton, 196 

Shivers 196 

Shoeing, 196 

Shoulder Lameness, .......... 197 

Shoulder Joint Lameness, ......... 199 

Side Bones, 200 

Sinus, 200 

Sitfasts, 200 

Skeleton of the Horse, Bones of the, . ...... 200 

Skin Diseases, ........... 201 

Slobbering 205 

Slough, 205 

Sores, . 206 

Soundness, ..........*• 206 

Spavin, ............ 207 

Specks on the Eye, 209 

Speedy Cut 209 

Spleen Diseases, ........••• 210 

Splint, 210 

Sprains, 210 

Staggers, .........<•• 212 

Staked, 213 

Stings from Bees, etc., 214 

Stifle-joint Lameness, 214 

Stifle Ulceration, • 214 

Stomach Diseases, . . • . • • • • . .215 

Stone in the Bladder, 215 

Strains, 215 

Strangles, ............ 215 

Stranguary, 216 

Strangulation, 216 

Stringhalt, 217 

Stumbling 218 

Sunstroke, ............ 218 

Suppuration, 219 

Surfeit, 219 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Swelled Legs, 219 

Swellings, 219 

Sweenie, • ••••••••••. 219 

Sympathy, 220 

Synovia, 220 

Synchronous, • ••••■••••■ 220 
Systole, 221 

Tabanidoa, 221 

Tabes 221 

Talpse, i .... 221 

Teeth, 221 

Tetanus, 221 

Tetter 221 

Thick Wind, 221 

Thick Leg 221 

Thiselo, . . . . j 221 

Thoroughpin, 221 

Thread Worms, 222 

Throat Diseases 222 

Thrush 222 

Thrombus, 222 

Thumps, 222 

Tongue, Laceration of.......... 222 

Tonics, ....222 

Toxicology, 222 

Tracheotomy, 222 

Transfusion, ............ 223 

Tread, 223 

Trepanning, 223 

Trismus 224 

Tubercles, 224 

Tumors, 224 

Tympanitis, ......226 

Typhia, 226 

Typhoid, 226 

Typhosus, 227 

Ulcers, 229 

Urinary Calculi, 231 

Urine, Bloody 231 

Varicose, ............ 231 

Venesection, ............ 231 

Ventilation, ..••• 231 



OQKTEBrTB. 

nun 
Veterinary Biography, .......... 232 

Veterinary Colleges, ....•••••• 235 

Veterinary Surgeons, . • ■ • 235 

Vives, ......•••••• 237 

Warts, 237 

Warranty, ...••••••••• 237 

Warbles, 237 

Water Farcy, -237 

Weeping Eye, ...... .... 237 

Wens, ...••••••••• 237 

Wheezing, .......*•••• 238 

Whirl-Bone, 238 

Wind Galls, 238 

Wind-Sucking, 238 

Worms, .........•••• 238 

Wounds, . 240 

Wourali, 241 

Yellows, 242 

Yellow Water, 242 

Zoology, 242 

Zumins, 242 



DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

Abortion, 244 

Abomasum, •••••• 249 

Anaemia, 249 

Angle Berries,. ........... 249 

Apoplexy, 250 

Aphtha 250 

Biliary Gall-stones, • . . . 250 

Black Quarter 250 

Black Tongue, 250 

Black Water, 250 

Bladder, Diseases of, 250 

Bladder, Prolapsus of, 250 

Blood-shot, 253 

Blood Diseases, 253 

Brain Diseases, 253 



CONTENTS. 

MM 

Brittany Cow 253 

Bronchitis, 254 

Bull Burnt, 257 

Cachexia, 258 

Calving, 258 

Catarrh 265 

Catarrhus Linuutn Frontalium, ........ 265 

Cattle Plague, 266 

Chicken-pox, 267 

Choking, 267 

Colic, 268 

Consumption, ........... 268 

Contagious Typhus, 269 

Coryza, 270 

Cow-pox, 270 

Croup, 270 

Cud, loss of, 271 

Diarrhoea, 271 

Distention of the Rumen, 274 

Dropping after Calving, ......... 274 

Dysentery, 274 

Ectopia Cordis, 274 

Epizootic Aphtha, 274 

Eye Diseases, ........... 275 

Falling Sickness, 276 

Falling of the Womb, 276 

Fardel Bound 277 

Feeding of Milch Cows, 277 

Fever, 279 

Foul Claw, 280 

Gangrene of the Tail, ... 280 

Garget Mammitis, 280 

Gastro-Enteritis in Calves, 282 

Glossitis, 282 

Hematuria, 283 

Hair Balls, 283 

Herpes, 283 

Hide Bound, 283 

Hoose in Calves, . 284 

Hoven, 285 

Hydatids in the Brain, ......... 286 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Inflammation, 287 

Impaction of the Omasum, ......... 288 

Jaundice, 289 

Kidney Disease, 290 

Laryngitis, ............ 290 

Leucorrhcea, 290 

Lice, . 290 

Liver Disease, • . . 290 

Locked-jaw, 290 

Lung Diseases, ........... 290 

Lymphangitis, ........... 290 

Malignant Catarrh, 291 

Mammitis, 291 

Mange, 291 

Milk Fever, 291 

Milk Trembles, 293 

Moor Evil, 293 

Mouth Disease, 293 

Murrain, 293 

Nephritis, 294 

Nervous Diseases, .......... 294 

GEstromania, 294 

Oestrus Bovis, 294 

Osseous, 294 

Ovarian Dropsy, 294 

Ovarian Tumor, ........... 294 

Paralysis, 294 

Parasitic Lung Disease, 295 

Parturient Fever, 295 

Phthisis, i 295 

Placenta, 295 

Plethora, ••••••• 295 

Pleurisy, ............ 295 

Pleuro-pneumonia, 295 

Prolapsus Vaginse, •••.. 300 

Prolapsus Vesicae, ........... 301 

Prurigo Vernalis, .......... 301 

Puerperal Fever, 301 

Quarter Evil, 301 



CONTENTS. 

PAOK 

Railway Disease of Cattle, 301 

Red Water, 302 

Reticulum, 303 

Retroflexion of the Womb, 303 

Retroversion of the Womb, «... 303 

Rheumatism, ........... 303 

Rinderpest, 303 

Ringworm, 303 

Rot 304 

Rumen, ............ 304 

Rupture iu Calves, 304 

Siberian Boil Plague, 305 

Slinking the Calf, 305 

Sore Throat, 305 

Spaying, 305 

Spayed Cows, The Advantages of, 305 

Spleenic Apoplexy, 307 

Spring Eruption, 307 

Stomach Staggers, 307 

Strangulation, ........... 307 

Sturdy, 308 

Teats 308 

Teeth, Diseased, 309 

Texan Fever, 309 

Throat Diseases, . . 311 

Thrush, 312 

Tongue of the Ox, 312 

Tubercle Disease, 312 

Tympanitis, 312 

Typhus Contagiosus Bourn, . 312 

Udder Diseases, ••«••• 317 

Urine, 317 

Yaginal Catarrh 317 

Varicella Bourn 318 

Vertigo, 318 

Warbles, 318 

Water in the Chest, 318 

Whites 318 

Worms, 318 

Womb, . 318 



CONTENTS. 

DISEASES OF SHEEP. 

PAGE 

Braxy-Enterites, 320 

Diarrhoea, 321 

Hydrocephalus Hydatideus, Sturdy, etc. 321 

Looping 111, 325 

Paronychia Ovium, 325 

Pneumonia, ........... 327 

Psora, 327 

Rot, 331 

Sheep Laurel, Poisoning by, ........ 334 

Small-Pox, 334 



HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

Acids, 338 

Aconite, 339 

Alcohol, 341 

Aloes, 341 

Alum 341 

Ammonia, ............ 341 

Anaesthetics, •••.. 342 

Aniseed, 342 

Anodynes, 342 

Antimony, '...... 342 

Antiseptics, . ........... 344 

Antispasmodics, 344 

Areca Nut, . . . ' . ....... . 344 

Arnica Montana, 344 

Arsenic, 344 

Asafcetida, 345 

Asarabacca, ............. 345 

Astringents, ........... 345 

Atropine, 346 

Belladonna, 346 

Benzoin, ............ 346 

Benzole, 346 

Bismuth, Subnitrate of, ......... 346 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Bole Armenia, 346 

Borax, .<> 346 

Bivmide of Potassium, 347 

Buckthorn, 347 

Calamine, 347 

Calcium, 347 

Calomel, 348 

Camphor 348 

( antliarides, 349 

Capsicum, ••• 349 

Carbolic Acid, 349 

Cardamoms 350 

Caraway, . 350 

Carbonate of Lime, 350 

Cascarilla, 350 

Castor-oil, 350 

Cassia, 351 

Catechu, 351 

Chalk, 351 

Chamomile, 351 

Charcoal, 351 

Cheiiopodium, Anthelminticum, 352 

Chlorine Gas, 352 

Chloric Ether, 353 

Chloride of Potassium, 353 

Chloride of Lime, 353 

Chloroform, 353 

Cholagogues, 354 

Cinchona, 354 

Cochineal, 355 

Cod Liver Oil, 355 

Colchicum, ............ 355 

Collodion, 355 

Copper, 356 

Coriander 357 

Creosote, ' 357 

Croton Oil, 357 

Digitalis, 357 

Disinfectants, 358 

Diuretics, 359 

Elecampane, 359 

Elm Bark, 359 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Emetics, s 360 

Epsom Salts, 360 

Ergot, 360 

Essential Oils, 361 

Ether, 361 

Euphorbium, ....••••••• 361 

Expectorants, .....•••••• 362 

Febrifuges, 362 

Fenugreek, ........«••• 362 

Fern, 362 

Friar's Balsam, 362 

Galbanum, ......<••••• 362 

Galls, 362 

Gallic Acid, 363 

Gamboge, 363 

Gentian Root, 363 

Ginger, 363 

Glauber's Salts, 364 

Glycerine, 364 

Guaiacum, 364 

Gum Arabic, 365 

Gum Senegal, 365 

Gum Tragacanth, 365 

Hartshorn, 365 

Hellebore, 365 

Hemlock, 365 

Hemp, Indian, 365 

Henbane, ... 366 

Iodine, ............ 366 

Iodides, 367 

Ipecacuanha, ..... .«... 369 

Iron, 369 

Jalap, 372 

Juniper Berries, ........ s ..' . 372 

Kino, 372 

Kousso, 372 

Laudanum, •«... 372 

Laxative, , 372 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Lead 372 

Lime, 373 

Linseed, ..... 373 

Linseed Oil, 374 

Liquorice Root, 374 

Lobelia Inflata, ...... 374 

Logwood, 374 

Lunar Caustic, 375 

Lupuline, 375 

Lytta-Cantharides, 375 

Magnesia 375 

Manganese, 375 

Marsh Mallow, 375 

Marigold 375 

Mercury, 376 

Mercurial Ointment, 377 

Mezeron, 377 

Morphia, 377 

Muriatic Acid, 377 

Mustard Seed, 377 

Myrrh, 378 

Narcotics 378 

Neat's-Foot Oil, 378 

Nervines, 378 

Nitric Acid, 378 

Nitre, 378 

Nux Vomica, 379 

Oak Bark, 380 

Oils 380 

Opium, 380 

Pareira Brava, k . . . 382 

Peach Leaves, 382 

Peppermint, 382 

Pepper, 383 

Pepsin, 383 

Petroleum, 383 

Phosphorus, 383 

Pitch, 384 

Pomegranate Punica, 384 

Poppies, 384 

Potash, 384 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Prussic Acid, .......«>•• 385 

Pumpkin Seeds, 385 

Purgatives, . ......*•••• 385 

Pyroxylic Spirit, •• 385 

Quinine, •••••••••••• 385 

Rennet, ..385 

Ehubarb, 385 

Eicinus Communis, ...••••••• 386 

Eochelle Salts, 386 

Saffron, 386 

Sagapenum, •••••. 386 

Sal Ammoniac, ....*•••••• 386 

Salt, 386 

Sal Volatile, 386 

Sassafras, .....*•*•••• 386 
Sarracenia Purpura, ......... 386 

Savin, 387 

Sedatives, 387 

Senega, Polygala Senega, ....••••• 387 

Sialagogues, • 388 

Silver, Nitrate of, . . . 388 

Soap, . . . '• . ...... • 388 

Soap Liniment, ........... 388 

Soda, . 388 

Spanish Fly, 389 

Specifics, 390 

Spermaceti, 390 

Spirits of Nitrous Ether, 391 

Spirits of Wine, 391 

Sponge, ............ 391 

Starch, 391 

Styptics, 391 

Sudorifics, ........•••• 391 

Sugar of Lead, ....*...... 391 

Sugar of Milk, 391 

Sulphuric Acid, 391 

Sulphur, 391 

Sulphurous Acid Gas, 393 

Sulphate of Zinc, 394 

Tannate of Glycerine, 394 

Tannin, ••••••• 394 



CONTENTS. 

Na 
IV, 395 

Tartar Emetic, .....395 

Tobacco, 395 

Tragacanth, ..396 

Turpentine, 396 

Urse Ursi, •••..397 

Valerian, 397 

Valerianate of Soda, .......... 398 

Veratruin, 398 

Wax, 398 

Willow Bark, 399 

Yeast, 399 

Zinc, .399 

Zingiberis, ............ 401 

Zylodine, 401 



PRESCRIPTIONS AND PREPARATIONS. 

Cerates, 401 

Clysters, 401 

Drenches, ............ 401 

Eye Lotions and Washes, . 401 

Eye Salves, 403 

Freezing Mixtures, 403 

Liniments, •••••••••••• 403 

Ointments, 405 

Plasters, 407 

Poultices, 407 

Spirits, 407 

Tinctures, 408 

Waters, 408 



Medicines to be Kept on Hand, ....... 409 

Table of Doses, According to Age, • .411 

Articles Necessary for Measuring, Weighing, &c, .... 412 



CONTENTS. 

DISEASES OF POULTRY. 

PASS 

Asthma, 413 

Costivenesa, 413 

Diarrhoea, 414 

Fever, 414 

Indigestion, 415 

Lice, 415 

Loss of Feathers, 416 

Pip, 417 

Roup, 418 

Wounds and Sores, 419 

DISEASES OF SWINE. 

Catching a Pig, , 421 

Catarrh, 422 

Cholera, 422 

Crackings, . . . . . 423 

Diarrhoea, 423 

Drenching, 421 

Fever, 424 

Foul Skin, 425 

Inflammation of the Lungs, . 425 

Jaundice, 426 

Leprosy, 426 

Lethargy, 427 

Mange, . 427 

Measles, 429 

Murrain, 429 

Quinsy, 430 

Staggers, 430 

Swelling of the Spleen, 430 

Surfeit, 431 

Tumors, 431 



DISEASES OF DOGS. 

Asthma, 433 

Bronchitis, 433 

Canker of the Ear, . 439 

Chorea, or Jerks, ..••...... 433 

Common Cold. •••••• 434 



CONTENTS. 

FXOE 

Distemper, 435 

Fits, 440 

Fleas and Lice, 440 

How to Give Medicines, ......... 442 

Inflammation of the Stomach, 437 

Inflammation of the Liver, . . 437 

Inflammation of the Bowels, 438 

Mange, 438 

Pleurisy, 434 

Pneumonia, . . 434 

Protracted Labor, 442 

Puerperal Fits, 441 

Rickets or Large Joints, 441 

Rheumatic Fever, 434 

Sprains, ............ 442 

To Harden Tender Feet 442 

Tumors and Cancers, 441 

Worms, 440 

DISEASES OF BIRDS. 

Asthma, 443 

Corpulence, 443 

Costiveness 443 

Decline 443 

Diarrhoea, 443 

Egg-Bound, 444 

Egg-Rupture, 444 

Epilepsy, ......... ... 444 

Feet, Diseases of the, ......... 444 

Giddiness, 445 

Lice, " 445 

Loss of Voice, 445 

Pairing Fever 445 

Pimples or Obstruction of the Rump Gland, ..... 445 

Pip, 446 

Rheum or Cold, 446 

Rupture, 446 

Sneezing, ............ 446 

Sweating, 446 

The Care of Birds, 447 

Teaching to Sing, 450 

Tympany, ............ 446 

Yellow Scab 446 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Frontispiece. page 

Head of Stallion, 39 

Absckss Lancet, 40 

Artery Forceps, Shut, 46 

Artery Forceps, Showing How a Ligature is Passed Over 

to Tie the Bleeding Vessel, 46 

Forceps for Lifting Bleeding and Wounded Blood Ves- 
sels, SO THAT THEY MAY BE TIED, 46 

Bone Forceps, 57 

ecraseur, (or new instrument for castrating colts,) 58 

Florence Flask, Used in Generating Chlorine Gas, . 74 

Operating on the Eye, , . . 84 

Foot Lancet, 100 

Quittor Syringe, .105 

Bullet Forceps of Different Patterns, . . . 124 

Hypodermic Syringe, 139 

Ecraseurs, as Made by Different Manufacturers, . 142 

Spring Lancet, 143 

Syringe for Injecting Medicines into Tumors, . . 143 

Curved Trocar and Canula, 143 

Straight Trocar, with Canula, 143 

Tooth Chisel, Rasp, and Hammer, 161 

Bone Holder 163 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

Liston's Bone Forceps, 164 

Wound Dilator and Knife, 177 

Moyer's Patent Probang, 179 

Qcittor Syringe, with Pings. To be Used with One 

Hand, 183 

Needle with Fixed Handle, 192 

Needle Armed with Wire, 192 

Tooth Forceps, 221 

Tracheotomy Tube, 222 

Trepanning Instruments, 223 

Trephine, 224 

Operating Knife 224 

Hypodermic Syringe, 228 

Director and Probes Used in the Cure of Wounds and 

Sores, . . .240 

Curved and Probe-Pointed Scissors for Dressing the 

Cavities of Wounds 241 

Head of Ox, 243 

Trocar, with Canula, 285 

Milk Syphon, 308 

South-down Ram, 31S 

Medicine Chest, 337 

Minimum, or Drop Measure, 339 

Graduated Measure, 339 

Balance, Weighing One Grain to a Few Ounces, . 343 

Wedgewood Mortar, No. 1, 348 

Wedge wood Mortar, No. 2, 348 

Caustic Holder, 388 



PART I. 



Theory and Practice of Veterinary Science 



DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

DISEASES OF SHEEP. 

HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

PRESCRIPTIONS AND PREPARATIONS, 

DISEASES OF SWINE. 

DISEASES OF POULTRY. 

DISEASES OF DOGS. 

DISEASES OF BIRDS. 



INTRODUCTION. 



CAUSES OF DISEASE. 

Scientific men give three names when they speak of 
the causes of disease — exciting, predisposing, and proximate. 
The first may justly be termed the originators of disease; 
by the second is meant those more easily acted upon by 
causes that a more healthy animal would resist altogether ; 
and the third is almost the disease itself. Of the causes 
with which we are acquainted, not many of them are alike, 
and their effects, that is, the disease, just as diverse. 

These causes are named in the following table : 

1. Electric, and other conditions of the atmosphere. 

2. Food and water. 

3. Overwork. 

4. Poisons — animal, vegetable, mineral, and zumins, or 
ferments. 

5. Malformations, or badly-formed parts. 

6. Age and decay. 

7. Changes of temperature. 

8. Hereditary influence. 

9. Mechanical. 

10. Starvation. 

That the writer may be more clearly understood in 

29 



30 INTRODUCTION. 

regard to these causes, examples will be given in the order 
above stated. 

The first is looked upon as the cause of the many dis- 
eases which take on an epizootic form. The second, rusty 
straw, and musty hay and corn fed to animals with weak 
stomachs. Third, riding too far and too fast, overloading, 
etc. Fourth, animals drinking out of leaden troughs, 
where pieces of old iron may be lying in the bottom, in- 
oculation by the virus from a glandered horse, are illustra- 
tions of animal poisons, zumins, or ferments. (See Glan- 
ders.) Fifth, a horse with point of hock inclined forward, 
which is the originator of curb. Sixth, an old horse or 
cow, with no teeth to chew its feed. Seventh, taking an 
animal from a warm and comfortable stable, and exposing 
it to a cold, north-eastern storm. Eighth, a flat forehead, 
transmitted from parentage, thus preventing a full develop- 
ment of the brain where the optic nerve is given off from 
the brain, thus insuring blindness about the seventh or 
eighth year, and sometimes earlier. None need be told of 
the disposition of the coarse-bred Canadian horse to be- 
come affected with disease of the bones, mostly in the form 
of ring-bone, (which see.) Ninth, stone in the bladder, 
and calculi in the bowels. Tenth, besieged garrisons, for- 
tresses, when crops have failed, and famine. 

HOW TO OBSEEVE DISEASES. 

We are sometimes asked how it is that we know so ex- 
actly what the disease is that this or that animal is affected 
with, as it cannot speak and narrate its ills and its aches. 
To this question we might repeat a common truism, "A 
shut mouth tells no lies;" therefore, nobody is deceived. 
Nature has but one set of weights and measures, and these 



INTRODUCTION. 31 

only should be used. Thus, if a horse have a corn or 
bruised heel, he will be as sure to go lame as he would 
with an ordinary sprain. The difference is, that he not 
only stretches out the sore foot, but he elevates the heel 
from the ground, and will not set his foot flat to please, or 
it may be said to deceive any one. The uneasy eye, the 
anxious expression, and the sharp, peculiar look, tell the 
tale of suffering, and bear testimony to a description so 
faithful and true, that every man should understand how 
to interpret them. 

THE PRINCIPLES OP DISEASE. 

Congestion. — By this term is meant an undue flow of 
blood into a part, and remaining in it. The blood-vessels 
lose the power of contracting and emptying themselves, as 
Avhen in health. Congestion is not accompanied with in- 
flammation, as some suppose, and may exist without irrita- 
tion. Irritation is only present when the blood passes more 
rapidly into a part than its vessels can carry it out, and 
inflammation only is present when more fluid is thrown 
into the vessels than they can get rid of. 

Irritation. — This peculiar condition is the result of in- 
creased sensitiveness, or an exalted action, accompanied 
with quickened beating of the heart and pulse. When we 
apply the term to special cases, it will be better under- 
stood, as irritation of the bowels producing diarrhoea, of 
the bladder frequently passing off urine, of the eye causing 
an increased flow of tears, and of the throat giving rise to 
cough. 

Inflammation differs from irritation, inasmuch as it is 
more painful. There are three varieties — acute, sub-acute, 
and chronic. Inflammation has also three terminations : 



32 INTRODUCTION. 

(1.) Resolution; that is, it gives way, or is relieved be- 
fore any alteration has taken place in the part so inflamed. 

(2.) Suppuration, or the formation of pus. 

(3.) Mortification, or death of the part affected, and the 
subsequent death of the animal. Inflammation is charac- 
terized by four conditions, or phenomena, as they are 
called — pain, heat, redness, and swelling. Inflammation 
assumes different degrees of intensity, modified by the 
cause, and the part or organ affected. When it is situated 
in the wind wipe, (bronchitis, which see,) lungs, or bowels, 
great uneasiness and disturbance are manifest. In a few 
hours this condition gives way to depression. 

Depression. — Many diseases of an inflammatory type, 
when their course is run, leave the system in a state of de- 
pression, or a low condition of vitality. How necessary, 
then, that this should be properly understood when treat- 
ing inflammatory diseases, as one pint of blood taken from 
a large horse would, under these circumstances, cost him 
his life! Rather anticipate the weakness by supporting 
and husbanding the strength as much as possible, so as to 
overcome disease. 

There are two great divisions of diseased action, which 
it will be well for farmers, and others interested in the 
welfare of their animals, to know, and these are : First. 
The exalted, or as it is called sthenic, or commonly known 
by the term inflammation, and requires for treatment, not 
bleeding, but medicine having the power of overcoming 
the exalted condition, by controlling the fast beating of 
the heart and pulse. This is easily done by the power of 
such agents as aconite or veratrum, (which see,) and with- 
out in any way impairing the strength and constitution of 
the animal. The second, or depressed condition of dis- 
ease, and known as the asthenic, requiring a treatment 



INTRODUCTION. 33 

opposite to the above variety, namely, iron, gentian, etc., 
(which see,) to add to the strength of the animal, and 
quality of the blood. An improved diet, and in greater 
quantity, will, in many cases of depression, not only cure 
the disease, but remove the cause also. 

FEVER. 

There are four stages observed in fever : — 

(1.) Weakness, loss of appetite, and low spirits. 

(2.) A shiver, or chill, uneasiness, flanks move quick 
and short, nostrils more or less distended, one leg or ear 
hot, and the other cold. 

(3.) After a time the coldness is succeeded by great heat 
and thirst, costiveness, urine scanty and high-colored, 
mouth hot and dry. 

(4.) When the fever has lasted for a longer or shorter 
time, the skin becomes more moist, the bowels and kidneys 
act more freely ; the pulse becomes more full, although not 
less frequent, and the mouth more moist. 

When fever is accompanied with disease of the lungs, 
liver, or other organ of the body, or after an accident of 
any severity, it is then called symptomatic fever. 

Fever is called idiopathic, when not accompanied by dis- 
ease or accident. From the days of Galen to the present 
time, of the many theories advanced to explain its proximate 
cause, none seem to satisfy the philosophical student, and 
all belong to the unsolved problems in physiology. 

Diseased Secretion. — A good example of what is here 
meant may be found in the discharges from the nose of 
animals affected with cold, influenza, and glanders. The 
salivary gland may secrete too much fluid, as horses eating 
second crop clover. We call this salivation. 
3 



34 INTRODUCTION. 

Increased Secretion. — In health, serum is only supplied 
in sufficient quantity to keep the surfaces moist, the ab- 
sorbent vessels preventing accumulations. In the cavities 
of joints this secretion is often too large, causing enlarge- 
ments, of which a very good example may be seen in swell- 
ings of the hock-joint, called bog spavin, and also in 
thorough-pin. 

THE PULSE. 

The pulse of the horse and the ox is felt on the inner angle 
of the lower jaw, as being the most convenient place. The 
state of the pulse tells the condition of the heart, whether 
the disease is of an exalted or depressed character, or 
whether sickness is at all present. The pulse is more fre- 
quent in young than in old animals. In the full-grown 
and healthy horse it beats from thirty-two to thirty-eight 
in the minute; in the ox or cow, thirty-five to forty- 
two ; in the sheep, seventy to seventy-five ; and in the 
dog, from ninety to ninety-eight. In inflammations and 
fevers the frequency of the pulse is increased. In debility 
and depression it is slower, but sometimes quicker than 
natural. There are the quick pulse, the strong, the sharp, 
the regular, the intermittent, and many other varieties, 
both fanciful and real, which few persons can appreciate. 
The pulse of inflammation and fever numbers from seventy- 
five to eighty beats in the minute; and in great debility, 
as in the last stage of glanders, accompanied with tubercles 
of the lungs, the pulse will number one hundred beats per 
minute. 

BREATHING. 

A good sized, healthy horse, will take one inspiration to 
three of the pulse beats. When the breathing is more 



INTRODUCTION. 35 

frequent or slower, and when irregular, or difficult and 
laborious, there is then disease ; although we sometimes see 
the breathing quickened and short, when no disease is 
present. Both the pulse and the breathing will be quick- 
ened by exposure to heat, as in a stable up-stairs, and ex- 
posed to an August sun. By removing the animal to a 
stable not so situated, the breathing and the pulse will be 
greatly lessened. Hence the advantage of placing animals 
in a cool and airy place when they are unwell. It saves a 
great waste of their strength and vitality, thereby enabling 
them to throw off the effects of disease. 

TREATMENT OF DISEASE. 

The antiphlogistic plan of treating disease was derived 
from a theory now entirely exploded, and almost forgotten. 
Repeated bleedings, blistering, physicking, and starving on 
low diet, are some of the measures entering into the general 
plan which has destroyed more life and property than all 
the wars, ancient or modern. 

Bleeding, in domestic practice, is almost discarded, and 
in veterinary practice it should never have been employed. 
And if this fact shall be the means of opening the eyes of 
those interested (and who is not?) in the health of the 
animals supplying us with meat, and the horse, (a willing 
and a faithful help,) to the injury done by bleeding in health 
or disease, the writer will have his reward. Avoid these 
measures, and substitute a rational and successful system 
of treating the diseases of your animals. Ascertain whether 
your horse is suffering from a disease of an exalted or in- 
flammatory kind ; substitute aconite, pure air, and cold 
water for bleeding, and in a few hours you will have no 
cause to regret the change. If the disease be of a depressed 



36 INTRODUCTION. 

kind, accompanied with weakness and debility, give nux 
vomica, iron, and a generous diet. If the disease be an 
eruptive fever, give sulphite of soda to purify the blood. 
In rheumatism, administer colchicum and carbonate of 
soda. In mange, apply the sulphuret of potassa to the 
skin, and thereby destroy the small insects which cause 
the trouble. 

In hard swellings use the preparations of iodine, to cause 
their absorption. In lameness, allow absolute and entire 
rest, and apply hot or cold applications and slight irritants 
to the parts, to remove the products of the sprain. Ascer- 
tain the cause of disease, and having found it, have it re- 
moved, and the effects will cease. If the animal be costive 
from eating dry, concentrated feed, remove it, and give 
green feed or bran, but do not give physic. If diarrhoea 
be present, leave it, at least for a time, to itself, as it is 
nature's plan of getting rid of the offending matter. But, 
if it should continue, chalk and opium, as an astringent, 
are what is wanted. The reader cannot fail to see how 
simple, and his experience will demonstrate how successful 
these measures are in arresting and curing the diseases of 
all our domestic animals. 

VIS MEDICATEIX NATUEffi, OE HOW DISEASES AEECUEED 
WITHOUT MEDICINE. 

Intelligent persons have no difficulty in recognizing in 
the constitutions of animals and men a power of self- 
restoration, which is capable of resisting the influence of 
disease. It is this power that heals wounds, unites broken 
bones, and supplies lost substances. Diseases are not un- 
frequently efforts in this direction, intended to stay theaction 
of hurtful material when admitted into the system. When 



INTRODUCTION. 37 

the eye for instance, receives a particle of sand or hay -seed, 
the weeping of the secretions of pus are remedial measures 
to rid it of the offending matter. Poisons are good ex- 
amples of the manner in which animals will cure them- 
selves. When poison is taken into the stomach, irritation 
of the bowels is set up, followed by purging, as an effort to 
get rid of the poison. Nature, however, is not always suc- 
cessful, and the animal may die from the violent action set 
up. Again, a sprain will be cured by this very power, 
provided absolute and entire rest be allowed to the sprained 
part, without any interference from medicine or art. The 
remedial powers of nature often require assistance, as, for 
instance, in cases of debility, when the blood is becoming 
too watery. A few doses of iron, and in many cases a 
little extra food, will enable the sanative powers of the 
constitution to effect a complete cure. Often the removal 
of an animal from the sphere of exciting causes of disease 
will cause the effect to cease, and the power of nature will 
cure the affection. Hence, many persons reflect upon the 
many instances when apparently severe cases of sickness 
were cured by some simple substance, and much credit 
given to a power it never possessed. Where the powers 
of nature are left to perform a cure, let the strength of the 
animal be maintained, because if that fail, where is the 
chance of recovery ? Blood-letting and physicking are 
powerful and depressing agents ; so much so that, when 
carried to any extent, few, if any animals, by the little 
power that may be left, will cure themselves. It is this 
knowledge that enables Homceopathists to continue their 
practice ; for if it were not for this power in the constitu- 
tion in each and every animal, Homceopathists would have 
long since ceased to practise their peculiar art. If farmers 
and owners of horses and cattle will only cease to bleed, 



38 INTRODUCTION. 

and pour nostrums down the throats of their stock, and 
learn to rely more upon the great curative that God has 
implanted in the constitution of all His creatures, as a 
power in protecting their lives when attacked by disease, 
it will surely be infinitely more profitable and pleasant to 
them. In curing disease, medicine and art should be 
directed to assist the powers of nature to overcome disease 
— nothing more. 



DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



THEIR NATURE, SYMPTOMS, CAUSE AND TREATMENT. 




An alphabetical classification of dis- 
ease is the only arrangement adapted 
to popular instruction and do- 
mestic use. As some diseases, 
have more than one com- 
mon name, a few references 
are all that may be neces- 
M\ sarytofind the particular 
^J) disease wanted. In every 
disease the treatment I harve first recom- 
mended should be tried ; and, if it be not 
successful, the next in order will be taken. 
Also begin with the smallest dose, increasing, diminishing, 
or withdrawing it altogether, as the case seems to require. 
I do not think it necessary to quote authorities to substan- 
tiate what is said in regard to this or that medicine as a 
remedy, as the plans and remedies are those employed by 
the profession. 

Abrasion signifies to tear oif, and is applied to the skin 
when it has been rubbed or torn off, and to the lining 
membranes of the nose. The treatment will be found under 
that of bleeding wounds. 



40 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

Abscess. — This is also called, by some persons, a heal- 
ing — a formation of matter or pus under the skin, as the 
result of inflammation, either acute or chronic. Sometimes 
abscess in bone is seen, also of the liver and the brain ; and, 
indeed, no part or tissue of an animal is exempt from it. 

Symptoms. Pain, heat and swelling; a projection or 
prominence on the swelling from which the hair falls off, 
disclosing a yellow, white and soft part upon its apex. In 
a common abscess of this kind, it will only be necessary to 



ABSCESS LANCET. 

hasten the formation of the pus by applying poultices of 
flaxseed or some other soft substance to the part, and when 
the point is soft and evidently contains fluid, make an 
opening on its lowest dependent point with a sharp knife, 
so that the discharge will flow out of itself, and then apply 

Rain water, 1 ounce. 

Chloride of Zinc, 6 grains. 

Mix and apply to the wound twice a day. 

It is not advisable to open an abscess too soon, or before 
the pus has properly formed. (See articles on Strangles and 
Fistula.) 

Acari. — (See Mange.) 

Accidents. — When a horse falls whilst drawing a 
vehicle — 

1. Jump down and hold the animal's head, to prevent 
his dashing it about to his own injury. 

2, Loosen the check-rein (if you are so foolish as to use 
one) and the parts of the harness which fasten on the vehicle. 



ANEUEISM. 41 

3. Back the carriage, so as to get the shafts and traces 
clear. 

4. Steady and support the horse's head, and excite him, 
with hand and voice, to rise. 

5. When you have got him up, pat and encourage the 
poor animal, and see if he is wounded, or otherwise injured. 

6. Let him stand still a short time to recover himself, 
and then proceed gently and with greater caution than be- 
fore. (See Sprains, Bruises, Bleeding, and Wounds.) 

Aconite. — (See Medicines.) 

Alteratives. — This term is not very scientific, but it is 
in very general use, and easily explains its own meaning, 
though the modus operandi of the drugs employed to carry 
it out is not so clear. The object is to replace unhealthy 
action by a healthy one, without resorting to any of the 
distinctly-defined remedies, such as tonics, stomachics, etc. 
As a general rule, this class of remedies produce their 
effect by acting slowly but steadily on the depuratory 
organs, as the liver, kidneys, and skin. The following 
may be found useful for general use : 

Black sulphuret of antimony, . . 2 to 4 drachms. 

Sulphur, 2 drachms. 

Nitre, 2 drachms. 

To be given mixed in cut feed at night only. 

Amaurosis. — Glass eye. (See Eye Diseases.) 

Anaemia. — Deficient or bad blood. 

Anchylosis. — (See Spavin and Open Joints.) 

Aneurism. — A pulsating tumor, produced by the rup- 
ture of the inner coats of the vessel, and the blood getting 
between it and the outer coat. They manifest themselves 
in many parts of the body. An expert surgeon is only 



42 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

capable of remedying it, as great danger of bleeding to 
death would result from opening a tumoi ~*f this kind. 

Apoplexy. — Symptoms. The animal falliL^ suddenly, 
loss of feeling and the power of motion, and breathing 
deep and slow. In most cases the horse gets up again, 
shakes himself, and proceeds on his journey almost as if 
nothing had happened, but it will shortly be seen that the 
animal is not so lively as formerly, and that it will after- 
wards be unsafe to use him, especially for a family carriage, 
as in a fit of this kind the horse may become entirely un- 
manageable, and can only be controlled by a power stronger 
than his own. Horses subject to disease of this kind, will, 
at times, be observed to look sleepy, with a slight knuck- 
ling of the hind pastern-joints, accompanied with stiffness 
of the hind quarters and lopping of the ears. All these 
symptoms are seen in brain disease, as Staggers, Megrims, 
and Epilepsy. (Which see.) 

Causes. Breaking of a blood-vessel, effusion or water on 
the brain, producing pressure, too small a collar on a thick- 
necked horse, interfering with a free circulation of the 
blood to and from the head, effects of the sun — sunstroke. 
(Coup-de-soleil.) 

In severe cases of Apoplexy, many never have the use 
of their legs again, by their remaining palsied. (See Palsy.) 

Treatment. Apply chopped ice to the head, in bags, and 
secured by proper fixings. Keep up a free circulation in 
the legs by rubbing and woollen bandages, or warm water 
clothes, and renewed every half hour. Then apply a small 
blister of 

Spanish Fly, £ drachm. 

Hog's Lard, 2 drachms. 

Mix them well together, and rub the salve well in by the hand 
on the part just behind the ears. 



BIG HEAD. 43 

Do not bleed, as that measure will only insure effusion, 
and, as in the brain, ultimately cause death or dumbness. 
(Which see.) 

If there be much exaltation or excitement, give fifteen 
drops of the tincture of aconite root every four hours, till 
five or six doses are taken. If the contrary condition be 
present, that -is, depression, give from ten to fifteen drops 
of the tincture of nux vomica four times a day, for a few 
days, or a week, if necessary. These medicines are best 
given in cold water, when the animal will drink it ; if not, 
mix with a cup of water, and drench out of a stout-necked 
bottle. Feed the horse generously and well. 

Aphtha. — (See Mouth Diseases.) 

Atrophy. — Wasting and shrinking of a part of the 
muscles, as is seen in sweenie of the shoulder ; consumption 
and disease of the mesentery, and also palsy or paralysis 
of the hind legs, from which the muscles of the hip will be 
seen to have fallen away. 

Causes. The parts deprived of their proper use, action 
or function. A long-continued corn on the foot of a horse, 
depriving him of the proper use of that limb, will cause 
shrinking of the subscapularis muscle of the shoulder. 

Treatment Removal of the cause, and restoring the func- 
tions of the parts to their proper condition. In case of 
many joint diseases, it will be necessary to have the horse 
walked before he is cured, to prevent too much wasting of 
the parts from long standing and want of use. 

Back Sinuses. — (See Sprain.) 

Baldness. — (See Skin Diseases.) 

Belly-ache. — (See Colic) 

Big Head. — (See Osteoporosis.) 



44 DISEASES OF THE HOESE. 

Bishoping. — Bishoping is the name of an operation 
performed upon the front or nipper teeth of horses that are 
more than eight years old, for the purpose of imitating the 
mark of the teeth of young horses, in order to deceive those 
persons who are supposed to be poor judges in the age of 
horses. It can rarely deceive any person of ordinary in- 
telligence. The general appearance of the horse will soon 
tell, if he be an old or young animal. 

Bite of Mad Dog. — When any reasonable suspicion 
exists that the dog is mad, have the parts completely washed 
out with cold water, if possible forced with a syringe or 
hydrant, so as the water will find its way to the bottom of 
the wound, and wash out any virus that may have lodged 
there. 

If the bite be upon the leg of man, horse or other animal, 
or man's arm or finger, a Tourniquet or soft rope or cord 
should be tied tightly around the leg above the bite, till 
other measures are used to have the bite purified. After 
the cord is properly applied, have the parts washed out; 
next either cut a portion of the flesh from the top, sides 
and bottom of the wound, or apply caustic to the parts. 
The nitrate of silver is possibly the best for this purpose. 
A few drops of nitric, hydrochloric or sulphuric acid may 
be dropped into the wound, and by the burning properties 
of these articles the destructive character of the poison will 
be destroyed. 

After these measures have been satisfactorily performed, 
the wounds should be treated as for common wounds with 
simple ointment (see Prescriptions and Medicines). The 
bite of other rabid or poisonous animals should be treated in 
the same manner. Persons have been bold enough to have 
allowed themselves to be bitten by mad dogs no less than 
seven times, and then applying the nitrate of silver as a 



BLEEDING. 45 

caustic to the bites, never became affected with the canine 
disease. However, too much dependence should not 
be placed in any one measure as a protection in such 
cases. The great protection is, do not allow yourself to be 
bitten at all, if it can be avoided. 

Bites from a healthy dog will never produce madness, 
even although the animal go mad in a year or two after- 
ward, so keep your mind easy on that point. 

Bladder Diseases. — 1. Inflammation. — This condi- 
tion of disease is sometimes met with, but is rare in horses. 

Causes. Irritating substances or foreign bodies in the 
bladder. 

Symptoms. Constant desire to make water, pain, strad- 
dling or walking wide with the hind legs, great tenderness 
under the belly. 

Treatment. Inject a little warm oil into the bladder. 
This can only be done by an expert and with a proper in- 
strument. Give 25 drops of the tincture of aconite root 
every 4 hours, till six doses are given, to keep down pain. 
Allow flaxseed tea to drink, or drench the horse with it, 
which has an excellent soothing effect. Give plenty of cold 
water to drink. 

2. Calculi. — This variety of stone is sometimes found 
in the bladder and kidneys of horses. This may be said 
to be the gravel of the horse, although not so common as 
in man, but is equally troublesome, and requires for its 
cure a formidable operation called Lithotomy, an operation 
of no great magnitude to an expert surgeon, but can scarcely 
be undertaken by an unprofessional person, even though a 
description of it were given. 

Bleeding. — 1. Bleeding. — An operation for the draw- 
ing of blood from the body, either locally or generally. 



46 



DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



As before stated, it is almost entirely discarded from domes- 
tic practice, and should never be used in the treatment of 
diseases of animals, however much the adherent of an ex- 
ploded and an erroneous system may doubt it. Medicines 
will be described in this book that will not only insure 
greater success in saving a very much greater percentage 
of sick animals, and with less trouble in a much shorter 
time, and without in any way impairing the sanative pow- 
ers of the animal's constitution. 



•ARTERY FORCEPS, SHUT. 




ARTERY FORCEPS, SHOWING HOW A LIGATURE IS PASSED OVER TO 
TIE THE BLEEDING VESSEL. 




FORCEPS FOR LIFTING BLEEDING AND WOUNDED BLOOD VESSELS 
SO THAT THEY MAY BE TIED. 



2. Bleeding from Wounds. — If the wound be a sim- 
ple one, and not on the inside of a leg where the large 
blood vessels are situated, all that will be necessary to stop 
it will be a small piece of cotton or soft cloth placed in and 



BLEEDING. 47 

over the wound, and secure it for a few hours by a broad 
bandage, not too tightly applied over it, or, if preferred, 
touch the mouth of the bleeding vessel with a piece of iron 
previously immersed in boiling water or in the fire itself. 
The surgeon's plan would be to get hold of the mouth of 
the vein or artery with a pair of artery forceps or small 
tongs, to hold it so that he can tie a piece of sadler's silk 
around it. If the wound be on the inside of the hind or 
fore leg, and the blood of a scarlet color, (see Blood,) place 
pads of cloth and bandage pretty tightly over it, and run 
for a good surgeon, and tell him what the trouble is, so 
that he will go properly prepared for his work. 

3. Bleeding from the A ir Passages and Lungs. — 
Observe the color of the blood discharged from the nose or 
mouth, as the veins of the lungs convey blood similar to 
the arterial blood of other parts of the body. 

Causes. The laying bare, and the rupture of small ves- 
sels, and the structure of the lungs, breaking down as in 
consumption, and some cases of glanders and coryza. 

Treatment. Support the strength by the mineral acids, 
(see Acids,) and small doses of aconite to lessen arterial circu- 
lation. Bear in mind in cases where the structure of the 
lungs is falling to pieces, no power or art can arrest it. 
Hence, the incurability of consumption. 

4. Bleeding from the Skin. — This disease is some- 
times called purpura. 

Symptoms. After general uneasiness, some pain, fever, 
and swelling of the legs and other parts of the body ; tumors, 
varying from the size of a cranberry to that of a pigeon's egg, 
often running together, forming large patches from which 
blood is oozed out in great quantities, giving rise to much 
debility. The contagious typhus or rinderpest of cattle, 
bears many resemblances to this disease of the horse. 



48 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

Treatment. Feed the animal on the best food that can be 
procured, and pour forty drops of commercial sulphuric 
acid in half a bucket of cold water three to four times in 
the day. Then get two ounces each of the sulphate of cop- 
per and gentian root in powder, and divide into eight pow- 
ders, and give one night and morning in the feed. 

Apply to the bleeding surfaces and sores, a liniment com- 
posed as follows : Olive oil three ounces ; creosote one 
ounce; mix and use once in the twenty-four hours. (See 
Mouth Diseases.) 

Bloody Urine. — (See Kidney Diseases.) 

Blood. — Blood is observed to be of two colors, namely, 
red, or almost of a bright scarlet. When blood of this 
color is issuing from wounds in jets or jerks, it is considered 
more dangerous than if it were of a dark-red, or venous 
blood. The first is direct from the heart itself, and the 
other is from a more remote and less dangerous part. 

It may be interesting to know, that red globules are more 
plentiful in blooded or well-bred horses than in horses of a 
coarser kind, which accounts for a curious fact observed in 
the difference of vitality. Thus, a blooded horse bears up 
under diseased action, and is cured, whilst a western or 
common horse will die under the same disease. 

The fluid portion of blood is called liquor sanguinis, in 
which the red globules or spheres float. When blood is 
drawn from the body, it divides into two parts : the solid 
is called clot, and the other is the serum. This serum was 
once relied upon, and is still by the ignorant, as showing 
the existence of inflammation. It is by the blood that the 
strength, wear, and tear of the system is kept up. The 
heart is the organ by which the blood is forced through the 
body. If the blood be thin and watery, it is called hydro- 



BRAIN DISEASES. 49 

nemia. (See Dropsy.) If pus be in the blood, it is then 
called pyemia. (See Glanders.) 

Boils. — (See Saddle or Harness Galls.) 

Bots. — (See Worms.) 

Bowels, Disease of. — (See Costiveness, Diarrhoea, and 
Dysentery.) 

Inflammation of the Bowels. — Symptoms. Acute 
pain in the belly, and continuous, getting no intervals of 
rest from the pain. Rolling, pawing, and shifting about, 
sweating, and breathing fast, with great fever, exaltation, 
and excitement. A fearful disease. Happily not so fre- 
quent as formerly. 

Can only be mistaken for colic, (which see.) In colic 
there are times of ease from pain, but never in this disease. 

Causes. Exposure to cold, drinking cold water in great 
quantities when hot, calculi, or hair balls in the bowels, 
costiveness, diarrhoea, and as a sequel to colic, lead and 
other poisons, (which see.) 

Treatment. The first thing to be done is to lessen or de- 
stroy pain. Give a large dose of the tincture of aconite 
root, say thirty drops, to be repeated in two hours. Apply 
blankets wrung out of boiling water to the belly, and renew 
them in about twenty minutes. 

Give injections of warm not hot water, soap, and a hand- 
ful of table salt every half hour. Continue the treatment 
while there is enough strength remaining. 

Bleeding will only insure and hasten death, and purga- 
tives are too slow to act — the horse is either dead, or will 
be before any response can be had from them. 

Brain Diseases. — The brain and its coverings, or mem- 
branes, are subject to inflammations of every degree. (See 
Apoplexy and Staggers.) 
4 



50 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

Breaking Down. — This accident means or consists in 
rupture of the tendons and ligaments, and occurs at once 
when the horse is at fuii speed. 

Symptoms. The horse stops suddenly, or perhaps stum- 
bles and falls; gets up, but stands on his fetlocks, the toe 
of the foot turned up, and the sole of the foot, as it were, 
looking at you. 

Treatment. If the fetlock comes entirely to the ground, 
not much can be done ; and when it does not, contraction 
of the leg takes place, and requires division of the tendon. 
(See Tendeotomy.) 

Breathing Short. — This is a symptom of irritation, 
inflammation, debility, weakness, oppressions of every kind, 
and fever, (which see.) 

Breeze Flies. — This is the fly supposed, but errone- 
ously, to be the one that deposits the ova or eggs, which 
generate bots in horses. (See Worms.) 

Brittle Feet. — (See Foot Diseases.) 

Bronchi, — This term means the windwipe, and com- 
municates and carries the atmosphere to and from the 
lungs. It is the seat of disease, and is affected more or 
less in all cases of colds and inflammations, whether of the 
lungs or their membranes — the pleura. 

Bronchitis. — Inflammation of the Air Passages 
or the Parts Enumerated Above. — This is a very com- 
mon disease among horses, and is confounded by most horse 
doctors with inflammation of the lungs, distempers, and 
colds ; whereas, it is distinguished from inflammation of 
the lungs by its seat, and from the others by as great a 
dissimilarity. 

Bronchitis occurs in various degrees of intensity, and 



BRONCHITIS. 51 

should at least be described under two heads, notwithstand- 
ing the one distinction may run, as it does sometimes, into 
the other. 

1. Acute Bronchitis. — Symptoms. Ushered in by a 
chill, fever, harsh or painful cough, loss of appetite, heav- 
ing at the flanks, mouth hot and dry. In a day or so, a 
discharge of pus or matter will be observed from one or 
both nostrils. 

If bleeding, or other severe measures be used, the horse 
will assuredly die, not so much from the disease, but from 
maltreatment. Better, in a disease of this kind, let nature 
have her way, and give the horse a chance for his life ; for 
in the other case, he has absolutely none whatever. 

Treatment. First the horse should be treated as for fever. 
Place the horse in an open or airy place, embraced by the 
word " comfortable." Obviously it would not be comfort- 
able to place a sick horse in an open place, with the ther- 
mometer below zero. In July or August it would not be 
necessary to burden the animal with blankets. 

Give him from fifteen to twenty drops of the tincture of 
aconite root every four hours, till six doses are taken. This 
will relieve the fever, breathing, and the hot and dry mouth. 

Give plenty of cold water to drink, for pain and fever re- 
quire plenty of fluid, as all the secretions are dried up. 
Let the animal have a little grass, if it can be got: this 
will relax the bowels, and cool the stomach. On the 
second day, the following medicines may be given, that is, 
if they be necessary : Powdered gentian root, two ounces ; 
powdered nux vomica, one ounce. Mix, and divide into 
six powders, and give one powder morning, noon, and 
night. These medicines will prevent debility and depres- 
sion, and the pouring out of fluid or serum into the legs, 
sheath, belly, and breast, After the fever has been re- 



52 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

moved, allow good feed, and a fair quantity of it. Such 
treatment will not only cure the horse in five or six days, 
but the horse is nothing the worse, beyond the loss of a few 
days' work. 

2. Chronic Bronchitis. — Symptoms. A confirmed 
cough, more or less severe, and a discharge from the nose. 
The cough worse in the morning, and after drinking water. 

Causes. Maltreatment of acute cases of bronchitis, and 
where the attack has been prolonged beyond a reasonable 
time, causing ulceration or thickening of the windpipe. 

Treatment. Give extract of belladonna, half drachm, 
powdered digitalis, half drachm, three times in the day, 
morning, noon, and night, for a few days. If no good 
seems to have been done, a different plan will have to be 
adopted, namely: feed the animal well, and give sulphate 
of iron, two drachms in powder ; gentian root, two drachms 
in powder — twice in the day for two weeks. By this time 
the absorbent system will be pretty powerful. Then apply 
the following salve or ointment, well rubbed in down the 
course of the windpipe, once in the week: Lard, one 
ounce; red iodide of mercury, one drachm. Mix. This 
will cause whatever thickening may exist, to be absorbed 
or taken up. Lard or oil will have to be applied once per 
day on the place where the ointment was applied, to pre- 
vent the skin from cracking. If the animal be debilitated, 
give occasionally sixty drops of commercial sulphuric acid 
in half a bucket of cold water to drink. 

Bronchocele. — Pronounced " bronch-seaZ," is an en- 
largement of the thyroid gland, and is situated on and in 
front of the windpipe, about three inches from the lower 
jaw. In horses it is only an eye-sore or blemish. 

Causes. In the horse it is unknown, nor is it determined 



BKOKEN KNEES. 53 

what office or use the thyroid gland performs in man or 
animals. 

Treatment. Apply with friction by the hand once a 
week, bin-iodide of mercury, one drachm ; hog's lard, one 
ounce. Mix, and make an ointment. Rub in a piece 
about the size of a hickory-nut over and around the en- 
largement. 

Broken Knees. — When a horse stumbles and falls 
upon his knees, and takes the hair and some of the skin 
off, this is called broken knees. 

Treatment. Wash and cleanse the parts from sand and 
dirt, and if the skin is ragged and torn, clip off with a 
good pair of scissors. After this is done, ascertain if there 
is any discharge from the sore of an oily substance, and 
if so get a smooth piece of iron, immerse it for ten 
minutes in boiling water, and apply it to the edges of the 
wound, so as to cause the parts to swell, and prevent the 
escape of the joint oil ; for if this be allowed to escape, 
the ends of the bones will come against one another. 
Irritation and inflammation will be set up, and either 
destroy the life of the horse, or make an anchylosed or 
stiff joint. This is an important point to be observed, and 
that very early in all cases of broken knees or open joints 
wherever situated. After the hot iron has been applied, 
use the following wash twice in the day : — Sulphate of 
zinc, half an ounce ; rain, or soft water, eight ounces. Mix. 
This will heal the sore, and prevent proud flesh from 
growing. This wash will answer for the more simple 
wound of the knee, and where there is no open joint. 
Do not apply bandages, as they will cause the whole leg 
to inflame and swell. Sometimes a kind of pouch will be 
formed by the lower edge of the wound, holding whatever 



54 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

pus or other fluid may escape. This pouch should be 
opened at its lowest bottom, so as to let the fluids out, and 
to prevent a bulge or permanent swelling remaining after 
the knee has otherwise healed. By attention to this, very 
little or no blemish or scar will be left to tell the tale of a 
stumbling horse, or a bad horseman. 

Bruises of the Sole. — (See Foot Diseases.) 

Burns and Scalds. — Injuries inflicted upon some 
parts of the body by the application of solid heat, are 
called burns; by fluid heat, scalds. 

Treatment. In horses the treatment is chiefly local ; for 
in cases of fire in large cities, the generation of steam is 
sometimes so great, that it is inhaled by animals in the 
burning building : this is termed scalding. Not much can 
be done, nor is there much hope of a cure in cases of this 
kind. The utmost that can be done is to give plenty of 
cold water to drink, and keep down pain by means of 
aconite, (which see.) 

For burns the best application will be, one pint of lin- 
seed oil, and half a pint of lime water, stirred together, 
or rather whipped, (as cooks usually do eggs,) till the 
mixture is like thick cream. This is to be applied to the 
burned places, spread on cotton or linen rags, for a few 
days ; then the sores are to be dressed with green ointment. 
(See Ointments.) 

Bursa Mucosa Enlarged.— (See Spavin and Wind 
Galls.) 

Calculi. — Stone in the bladder. 

Cancers. — This is a hard tumor, malignant in its 
character, at first small in size, but rapidly increases, and 
becomes ulcerated. The horse is not affected with so many 
varieties of cancerous growth as the ox and the dog, and 



CAPPED ELBOW. 55 

even man himself. Melanotic cancer is most commonly 
seen in gray horses, or those that turn white with age. A 
small hard tumor is usually seen under the root of the 
tail, and about the anus. 

When tumors of this kind are seen on gray horses, it 
may reasonably be expected that growths of the same char- 
acter will be found inside, on the spleen, stomach, and liver. 
Horses so affected may work well for years, and may not for 
a month. The tumors increase in size ; when cut into, they 
discharge a fluid as black as the ink of the cuttle-fish. 

Causes. As this disease is not seen in young gray horses 
until after they have almost turned white, it may be in- 
ferred that the cause results from the loss, or want of the 
usual pigment, or coloring matter, which gives color to the 
hair, thus depriving the animal of some protection from 
the air or sun. I think, however, that the true cause will 
be found to be, not in the loss of the coloring matter, but 
of its transfer from the skin and hair to the blood. Hence 
the inky color of the contents of the tumors. This opinion, 
which is my own, is still further corroborated by the fact 
that if the pus be taken from an abscess and injected into 
the blood of a healthy animal, carbuncles containing pus 
will soon manifest themselves. 

Treatment. Incurable ; but when one of these tumors 
breaks, treat it as an ordinary abscess, (which see.) 

Canine Rabies. — (See Hydrophobia.) 

Capped Elbow. — This is an enlargement on the point 
of the elbow, just behind the shoulder, and on the side of 
the chest ; sometimes it is in the form of a simple abscess, 
(which see.) But the usual form is that of an encysted 
tumor, or a fluid contained within a cyst of fleshy walls, 
which do not suppurate. 



56 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

Cause. The horse, when lying, rests the point of the 
elbow upon the heels of his front shoe. It is a symptom 
of* disease of the leg, preventing the animal from properly 
flexing or bending the leg proper upon its thigh or arm. 
Hence, the elbow rests upon the foot. 

Prevention. Remove whatever disease may be in the leg, 
and place a pad of leather, or of coarse, heavy cloth, over 
the back part of the foot. Pads are made by harness 
makers. 

Treatment. Make an incision with a sharp knife through 
the skin, Over the centre of the swelling, and carefully dis- 
sect the cyst from its attachments. This can be done with 
the fingers and a blunt piece of wood, flattened at its point 
like a butter knife, and no sharper. If the operator be 
timid, and think he cannot cut the cyst out, open it, and 
let out the matter, and inject, once per day, a little tincture 
of iodine, to kill the walls of the cyst, so that it will not 
fill up again. (See Medicines.) A knife is only wanted to 
cut the skin. After the tumor is taken out, treat the part 
as a simple wound, by keeping it clean, and applying a 
solution of zinc, or blue stone. 

Capped Hock. — This is a soft swelling on the point 
of the hock-joint. 

Causes. Kicking in the stable or in harness, lying upon 
stone-paved stalls, and from being kicked by another horse. 

Treatment. Apply cold water cloths to the part for a few 
days, taking them off at night. After the heat and tender- 
ness have subsided, apply, with rubbing, once every fifth 
day, for three times, if it be necessary, an ointment com- 
posed of one drachm of iodide of mercury; and hog's lard, 
one ounce. Mix. 

Carditis. — This is applied to disease of the heart. Heart 



CASTRATION. 57 

disease is also known as the Thumps. Incurable. (See 
Heart Disease.) 

Caries. — This term means an ulceration of the bone. 
The most frequent form of caries is seen on the lower jaw- 
bone ; the teeth are next affected. If the upper teeth be 
ulcerated to any extent, a fetid (stinking) discharge will 
run from the nostril upon the side on which the diseased 
teeth are situated, which has been repeatedly mistaken for 
glanders by " horse doctors." If caries of the bones of the 
head exist, the swelling of the head will be enormous — 
Big-Head, or Osteoporosis — and not Osteosarcoma, as it 
has been called. 




BONE FOECEPS. 

Cause. A disposition in the system to appropriate to the 
bones more calcareous or earthy matter than is required. 

Treatment. If caries be confined to the teeth, have them 
taken out. When confined to the bones of the head, it is 
incurable.. The animal will die of hunger, as he is unable 
to use his tongue and jaws, or gather and chew his feed. 
Happily, it is not a common disease in the Middle States. 
There have been many cases in the Western States. Arsenic 
and the hot iron are there recommended. Better let the 
horse die than increase his suffering, as he will die any way. 

Castration. — This is an operation for the purpose of 
depriving the horse-colt of his entirety by the removal of 
the testes. It is a simple and safe operation. Any person 
having once seen it done, can do it also, if he have the 



58 



DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



resolution to do so. It has been recently demonstrated 
that castration can be performed on aged horses with as 
much safety as on those in colthood. This is attributed to 
the mode or manner of operation, namely, by an instrument 
called the Ecraseur. (See Instruments.) 




ECRASEUR (OR NEW INSTRUMENT FOR CASTRATING COLTS.) 

No clamps, no firing nor twitching, nor any trouble after- 
ward. The instrument is manufactured especially for this 
purpose, by surgical instrument makers in Philadelphia. 

Cataract. — (See Eye Diseases.) 

Catarrh.— (See Cold.) 

Cautery. — This term is applied to the operation of 
searing a part with a red-hot iron. Happily, this cruel, 
and in many instances unnecessary operation, is becoming 
among the things that were. It used to be applied to 
sprains, ring-bones, and spavins. Since the discovery of 
the preparations of iodine, and their absorbent properties, 
the iron is little used. 

Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis.— (See Typhosus.) 



CHOKING. 59 

Chest Diseases. — The diseases of the chest are many 
and important. In it are the heart, lungs, and great blood- 
vessels. The diseases of these organs will be found under 
Inflammation of the lungs, or Lung Fever, Pleurisy, 
Coughs, Bronchitis, and Glanders. 

Chest Founder.— (See Founder.) 

Chilblains.— (See Frost-Bites.) 

Chill. — This term means a shiver, as if the horse were 
cold. This is the way many diseases and fevers are ush- 
ered in. If the chill be checked soon, it will stop, in 
many cases, the disease that was forming. For this pur- 
pose, give twenty drops of the tincture of aconite root in a 
wine-glassful of water, and pour down the throat, out of a 
short-necked bottle ; cover the body with a blanket, and rub 
the legs to bring the circulation to the surface of the body, 
and all will be well. 

Choking. — Choking very rarely occurs in horses ; very 
frequently in cattle. If choking should occur in the horse, 
there is little chance or hope of saving his life, if he be a 
spirited animal, and the substance be high in the gullet. 
In a very extensive practice, embracing many years, I have 
never seen a case of choking in the horse, except n a few 
occasions, and then it was only a ball of aloes sticking in 
the throat. If a ball of any thickness stick in its passage 
to the stomach, and it have passed down some distance, it 
is called low choke, and is not so dangerous as if it stick in 
the entrance to the gullet — high choke. 

Treatment. In low choke press down with the hand over 
the substance in the gullet, and try to move it. Do this 
not too strongly, but continue it for a time. If unsuccess- 
ful, one pint of fish, sweet, or linseed oil, melted lard, or 



60 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

syrup of any kind, will be apt to move the substance on 
its way down. If these should fail, after a good trial, then 
have the gullet opened right over the substance, and take 
it out, and put in one, two, or three stitches, with strong 
saddlers' silk. Make the stitches separately from each 
other ; for if this be not done, and one break, the others 
will also become loose. 

In high choke, the irritation and excitement are great, 
which prevent much being done to relieve the animal. Try 
the oil, and see what can be done in that way. The treat- 
ment is purely mechanical, so use ingenuity to overcome 
the difficulty. 

Chorea. — This is a rare disease in the horse, but com- 
mon in dogs. It accompanies cases of madness in all ani- 
mals, and depends upon nervous excitement, which is seen 
in the constant twitching of the muscles of the body. It 
is clearly sympathetic in its character. 

Treatment. Removal of the cause, whatever that may be. 

Cold. — Symjrtoms. Cough slight, fever and discharge 
more or less from one or both nostrils, sometimes of a thin, 
watery material, or a thick, creamy pus. The lining mem- 
brane of the nose is red and inflamed. Cold sometimes 
even extends into the throat and lungs, giving rise to 
quickened breathing and uneasiness. When it extends to 
the stomach, it is called by the French gastritis mucosa. 
When it spreads to the chest, it is called bronchitis, (which 
see). No disease is more common than cold among young 
horses ; but, unfortunately, it rarely runs its course as such. 
Cold assumes one or more of the forms just mentioned. 

Cause. Exposure to cold and stormy weather. 

Treatment. In Germany, it is said that a cold, if let alone, 
will get well in a fortnight, and if treated by a skilful doc- 



COLIC. 61 

tor, he will cure it in fourteen clays. However, give the 
animal a few closes of aconite, (see Medicines,) to remove 
the fever, and, if possible, to prevent complications, or its 
further spread to the neighboring parts. If the appetite 
keep good, nothing more need be done; but, on the con- 
trary, if the breathing quicken, and the appetite be poor, 
and debility be setting in, tonics and stimulants will be 
necessary. Get the following medicine, and give one pow- 
der, morning, noon, and night, mixed with a little cold 
water, and drench the horse with it : Take powdered gen- 
tian root, powdered pimenta berries, powdered carbonate 
of ammonia, of each two ounces. Mix, and divide into 
twelve powders. When the appetite improves, give good 
feed, but not by any means in sufficient quantity to bring 
on indigestion. Give green feed, if it can be had. This 
is a most simple and successful plan of treating common 
cold. 

Cold Lotions. — These are now called refrigerant lo- 
tions. Ice-water makes a good and economical refriger- 
ant, when applied to a sprain. (See Prescriptions and 

Medicines.) 

Colic. — (1.) Spasmodic Colic. — Symptoms. All at 
once the horse that a few moments ago was well, appar- 
ently, shakes his head — leaves his feed, looks round at his 
flank, mostly at the right side, as if pointing out the seat 
of the disease, scrapes the ground with his front foot, and 
and almost strikes his belly with one of the hind ones. 
The spasm continuing, the horse breaks out into a sweat, 
heaving at the flanks ; great excitement, kicking, and 
rolling; intervals of ease from pain. 

Causes. Drinking cold water when heated, or colder 
water than commonly used, as a city horse is used to drink- 



62 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

ing water which is warmer in summer, and colder in win- 
ter, than water taken from a pump; washing the belly with 
cold water ; driving horses into a pond of cold water. 

Treatment. Give something to heat the stomach and 
bowels. Try a bottle of warm ale or porter, adding a 
little whiskey, or a tablespoonful of ground ginger to it. 
If relief be not obtained in half an hour, give a drench, 
composed of tincture of aconite root, twenty-five drops ; 
spirit of turpentine, one ounce; one bottle of cold ale or 
porter. If necessary, give injections of warm water, (not 
hot), soap, and a handful of table salt. Occasionaly walk 
the horse about, to excite the bowels to action. 

(2.) Stercoral Colic. — Symptoms. Similar to the 
above variety, but continues longer, and is not quite so 
severe or painful. 

Causes. Impaction or constipation of the bowels. 

Treatment. Powdered aloes, one ounce ; tincture of 
aconite root, twenty-five drops ; chloroform, half an ounce. 
Mix in a bottle of ale or porter, and give in a drench out 
of a horn, or stout bottle. The aconite will have to be 
given every four hours, till the pain has given way. En- 
courage the operation of the aloes by injections every hour. 

(3.) Flatulent Colic. — Symptoms. Pain is consider- 
able at first, which in a few hours gives way to sleepiness, 
(see Coma). This is caused by distention of the bowels 
with gas, commonly called wind, thereby paralyzing the 
par vagus and nerve centres, and ultimately the brain it- 
self. This variety of colic is readily distinguished from 
the others by the swelling of the belly, particularly at the 
flanks, called tympanitis, or drum-belly. 

Causes. Indigestion of food in the stomach ; fermenta- 
tion is set up, and there is evolution (giving forth) of car- 
bonic acid gas. This gas is not liberated per rectum from 



colic. 63 

the body as speedily as generated. The horse and cow 
cannot belch or eruct wind from their stomachs as man 
and the dog can ; hence the frequency of tympanitis in 
horses and cows. 

Treatment. Try injections first, as in many cases I have 
cured this variety by this means alone. If gas or wind 
come away with the injection, the case will soon end well. 
When no benefit is derived from the injections, give, in a 
little cold water, aloes in powder, one ounce; sulphuric 
ether, one ounce ; tincture of opium, two ounces. If these 
measures fail in giving ease from pain, pour two ounces of 
chloroform on a small moist sponge, and hold it to the 
nostrils, not too closely, but admit a portion of air with 
the fumes of the chloroform (see Medicines). The sponge 
may be placed in a towel, and the ends carried up around 
the nose of the horse, to save waste ; or place the sponge 
in the bottom of a nose-bag, and put it on the head, but 
not too close upon the nose. 

Last Remedy. It must be confessed that the longer 
this disease is unrelieved the more remote is the chance of 
recovery, as the bowel sometimes contracts upon itself, or 
nearly closes altogether. To overcome this condition an 
operation is recommended, which I do not say will be a 
success, nor yet a failure. When it failed in my hands, it 
was not because the gas was not let out of the bowels, but 
because the blood had become so disintegrated, and the 
nervous centres so paralyzed, that the sanative powers of 
the constitution had received too great a shock to ever 
rally again. 

The Operation. Procure an instrument (see Instru- 
ments,) called a trocar. If this be not at hand, sharpen a 
breakfast knife, and measure an equal distance from the 
haunch bone and the short rib, and not too high upon the 



64 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

back; force the knife into the distended bowel, and turn 
the knife in the wound thus made, and hold it there until 
all the imprisoned gas has escaped ; and as the gas some- 
times still accumulates, keep the knife or instrument in 
the wound, if it be for half a day. When the knife or 
instrument is taken out, place a piece of sticking plaster 
over the wound. (See Medicines.) 

Stones, or hair calculi, are often found, after death, in 
the bowels of horses subject to colic. I have seen six 
taken from one mare that I had under treatment. Re- 
member, the great principle in the treatment of colic, in 
all its forms, is to relieve pain. This also holds good in 
most diseases of horses. The doctor, if he fail to allay 
pain, cannot cure the disease. 

Coma. — A horse is said to be in a comatose state when 
in an apoplectic fit, in sleepy staggers, and when dying 
from spasmodic colic (which see). 

Congestion of the Lungs. — (See Lung Diseases.) 

Constipation, — A confined condition of the bowels 
accompanying fever, liver and lung diseases. Horses 
habitually costive should be supplied with soft feed and 
grass in season. Costiveness, as a concomitant of fever, 
etc., should in all cases be let alone, as it is a provision of 
nature to protect herself from exhaustion. 

Consumption. — Causes. Repeated attacks of in- 
fluenza, lung fever, or bronchitis, or any of these diseases 
treated by bleeding, and other reducing remedies or agents. 
Consumption, in the horse, runs its course in from one to 
two weeks. 

Nature of Consumption. — A wasting, or breaking 
down of the structure of the lungs. The tuberculous form 
of consumption I have never seen in the horse. Tubercles 



CONTAGION. 65 

are seen in bad cases of glanders, (which see.) These 
tubercles suppurate, and discharge pus. This pus is ab- 
sorbed and taken into the blood, and sets up a ferment, or 
leaven, as the Scriptures call it. This is the great trouble 
in consumption in man, and glanders in the horse. Why 
authors have not called this tuberculous disease in horses, 
consumption, I do not know, except it be, and I am in- 
clined to believe it is, from an entire ignorance of its true 
pathology or character. 

Treatment. Incurable. To prolong the life, beef soup, 
iron, gentian, tonics and stimulants, are indicated. In the 
tuberculous form, sulphite of soda should be given to arrest 
the ferment, and keep the blood clear of impurities, in 
addition to the remedies to support the strength. (See 
Medici nes.) Decay, putrefaction, fermentation, are true and 
scientific expressions, with no vague meaning. Such, then, 
are the conditions embraced in the word consumption, 
whether in men or animals. 

Contagion. — This term is applied to something (as the 
virus of glanders) coming in contact with the body of an 
animal in health, producing a similar disease to that exist- 
ing in the animal from which it came. In a word, it is a 
specific poison. Few diseases of animals are considered 
contagious. The following diseases, however, are con- 
sidered of that character : — Glanders, in horses ; contagious 
typhus and small-pox, in cattle and sheep. Although many 
animals may be taken sick one after another, this is no proof 
that the disease is contagious ; for it must be remembered 
that a number of animals, all situated and cared for in the 
same way, are certainly subjected to the same exciting causes 
that produced the disease in the first animal affected. 
Those that escaped the disease were not predisposed to 
take it ; hence their exemption from its effects. 



66 DISEASES OF THE HOESE. 

Prevention. Separate the sick from the well. All 
buckets, or other materials that were in contact with the 
sick, must be thoroughly cleansed and purified. (See Dis- 
infectants.) 

Contraction. — (See Foot Diseases.) 

Convalescence. — A term applied to the time which 
elapses between the controlling of acute disease, and the 
restoration of the patient to perfect health. 

Corns. — (See Foot Diseases.) 

Coryza Gangrenosa. — This name is applied to an 
ulcerated condition of the membrane of the nose super- 
vening in a case of cold. It is evidence of general de- 
bility, and disintegration or deterioration of the membrane. 

Corrosive Sublimate. — (See Medicines and Poisons.) 

Cough. — A symptom of disease of the respiratory 
organs, as tubercles of the lungs, thickening of the lining 
membranes of the windpipe, and enlargement of the glands 
of the neck. I have seen cough from indigestion in a few 
cases, but this is rare in horses. 

Cough Chronic. — Causes. Debility, or softening of 
the par vagus nerves ; heaves, or broken wind, (which 
see,) are some of the causes which produce acute cough. 

Treatment. Removal of whatever is the cause, (causa 
sublata tulitur effeetus.) 

Counter-irritants. — An external application, which, 
when applied, causes an irritation or inflammation counter 
or opposite to that which exists inside. 

Cow Hock. — This name is applied to a condition or 
malformation of those hocks that incline forward, thus 



ORIB-BITING. 67 

forming a fulcrum, over which the posterior straight liga- 
ment passes — this condition favoring a sprain of the liga- 
ment, which is called curb. (See Curb.) 

Cramp, — Cramp of the stomach or bowels of horses, 
cannot be readily distinguished from spasmodic colic, 
(which see.) 

Cramp of the Hind Leg. — This affection is com- 
mon among young horses of an irritable temperament. It 
is often mistaken for dislocation of the patella, sometimes 
called luxation of the patella, (which see.) 

Symptoms. The horse will persistently refuse to move 
the leg from the position in which it is placed. Quivering 
or excitement of the muscles of the thigh, accompanied 
with irritation and fever. The horse cannot be moved, as 
he refuses to do so. 

Causes. Irregularity of the nervous system. 

Treatment. Move the animal, if it be possible, and the 
cramp will give way. Dashing cold water against the 
thigh will often remove it. The horse will get well, if 
time be only given him. Thus, if a person leave the sta- 
ble to tell some one of the matter, he will be surprised, on 
coming back, to find the horse well. 

Crib-Biting. — This is not a disease, but a vice — a bad 
habit, which the horse has learned, of sucking wind into 
the stomach by placing his lips against the manger. The 
habit has been so strong in some horses, that when they 
could get no place to press the lips against, they have 
stooped down and placed the lips against the arm of their 
own front leg. This vice is sometimes called wind-sucking. 

Causes. Idleness, indigestion, and learning it from other 
animals in the same stable. 

Prevention. Keep horses in loose boxes, or other places 



68 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

where there are do fixtures but the walls; regular feed and 
regular work. 

Treatment Do not let the horse stand in the stable 
twenty hours out of the twenty-four. Feed him regularly, 
and work hi m as regularly. Turn the animal to pasture, 
and when he is brought home in the fall of the year, 
have a loose box prepared for him without any fixtures, as 
manger, trough, or rack. Place his hay upon the floor, 
and his oats or corn in a small trough, and remove it as 
soon as the feed is eaten. 

Curb, — One of the many diseases of the hock-joint, and 
consists in a swelling immediately below the point of the 
hock-joint, and is the result of sprain of the posterior 
straight ligament; is more frequent in horses with the 
hocks inclining forwards, (cow hock.) The treatment best 
adapted is the ointment of the red iodide of mercury, 
(see Ointments,) which is not only a counter-irritant, but a 
sorbifacient. Apply about the size of a hickory-nut in 
quantity every sixth day for a few weeks, occasionally 
greasing or oiling the parts to prevent the skin cracking. 

Curby-Hocked. — (See Cow Hock.) 

Cutaneous Diseases.— (See Skin Diseases.) 

Cutting. — (See Interfering.) 

Death. — The great law of the universe makes limits of 
duration to every structure endued with life, and prepares 
a way for the resolution of every material provided with 
vital principles into the matter of earth. The individual 
existence of all organized bodies is merely temporary; none 
escape the necessity of perishing. 

Debility. — This is a condition accompanying many 
diseases. Hence, the necessity of guarding against any 



DEBILITY. 69 

measure in the treatment, even of a disease of an exalted 
kind, that will reduce the strength. The animal thus 
affected rapidly becomes weak and debilitated to such an 
extent as may cost it its life. 

(1.) Debility, Simple. — May be local, that is, confined 
to a part, as in partial paralysis, from the effects of a blis- 
ter applied to a part, or from a kick or injury. 

Symptoms. A thickening or swelling of the parts. The 
swelling is not inflammatory, but soft, and contains fluid. 
((Edema.) 

Treatment. Powdered sulphate of iron, one ounce and a 
half; gentian root, two ounces; chlorate or nitrate of potassa, 
one ounce. Mix, and divide into twelve powders, and give 
one night and morning mixed in cut or soft feed, with no 
more water in the feed than will keep the particles together. 
Feed the animal generously and well. Debility, and swell- 
ing of the legs of horses now-a days, at least in the United 
States, can be produced by simply keeping a portion of 
their usual feed from them for two or three days. 

(2.) Debility, General. — Symptoms. Swelling of 
the legs, sheath, breast, and belly. Disturbed breathing. 
The horse is very weak, and easily pushed from off his 
feet by the hand. Indeed, he staggers as he walks, and 
sometimes falls to the ground. 

Causes. Bleeding or giving physic (a purge) in the 
treatment of disease, especially in diseases of the chest. 
Starving and low diet given to a sick horse, when he should 
be supported in the midst of his sickness by good feeding. 
The very neglect, or want of knowledge on this point, has 
killed thousands of horses that would have lived, that have 
been sacrificed at the shrine of ignorance, error, and bad 
judgment. This condition of things in relation to the 
treatment of diseases of the horse, and indeed all our faith- 



70 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

ful animals, may be ascribed to the diligence and persist- 
ence of the American publishers deluging the country with 
reprints of old English books that should never have been 
written. 

Treatment. Give plenty of good feed to the maltreated 
animal, and give the following blood-making medicines: — 
Powdered sulphate of iron, three ounces; gentian root, 
three ounces. Mix, and divide into twenty-four powders, 
and give one powder night and morning. If there is 
much swelling about the body, add five grains of powdered 
Spanish fly to the evening powder, for a few nights only. 
Be assured the animal is fully restored before it is put to 
hard work. 

Deformities. — In young colts will often be observed 
a deformity of one or both fore legs from the knee down, 
giving the whole appearance an awkward look. Farmers 
having such a colt should not think it useless, or at all 
impaired ; for in my own extensive practice, I have not 
seen one that did not become as perfect as the best formed 
of animals. 

Observe. Whether the mother have sufficient milk for 
the colt, and if not, teach the colt to suck milk out of a 
bottle, or from something else ; for by good nourishment 
these deformed conditions of the legs will disappear. 

Deuteropathia. — A disease of a secondary character, 
or in sympathy with another. (See Fever.) 

Diabetes. — This is a disease accompanied by a great 
and frequent flow of urine, containing sugar in solution. 

Causes. The starch, and some constituents of the food are 
transferred into sugar. The origin of this affection is sup- 
posed to be a ferment changing the material of the system 
into sugar, as diastase converts starch into sugar in malting. 



BIARRHCEA. 71 

Symptoms. Great flow of clear urine, very great thirst, 
ravenous appetite, weakness and general debility. 

Treatment. Although this disease is considered incurable, 
I have on two occasions cured the animal by the iodide of 
iron, too expensive a medicine to be recommended for gen- 
eral use. The action of this medicine, at least the iodide 
portion, allayed the thirst, and the iron supported the 
strength and system, also acting as an astringent (to dry up). 

This medicine should be seconded by good feeding and 
plenty of it. (See Iodide of Iron in Medicine List.) 

Diaphoretics. — This term is applied to medicines 
having the power of producing sweating. The horse is 
not easily acted upon in this way by the use of medicines, 
except by one or two articles, as aconite or veratrum, 
(which see.) Slight moisture on the skin is very desir- 
able in cases of fever. The cold water douche is used by 
hydropaths for this purpose. 

When sweating is desired for the cure of disease, it must 
be done without increasing the heart's action. This is the 
great secret in producing diaphoresis. 

Diarrhoea. — (1.) Simple Diarrhcea consists of a 
looseness, or fluid condition of excrement, from something 
irritant in the bowels, and which does not freely pass 
away. When this condition is present, and no pain, grip- 
ing or pawing as in colic, it may be well let alone. 

(2.) Continued Diarrhcea. — This is often the case 
when irritation does not pass away with the offending 
matter, and the bowels continue to discharge a thin fluid. 
There is slight pain or colic. When this is the case, sus- 
pect some irritant poison. (See Poison.) 

Treatment. From whatever cause the diarrhoea may arise, 
treatment that will allay pain is demanded. Fwst. Give 



72 DISEASES OF THE HOIiSE. 

twenty to twenty-five drops of the tincture of aconite root 
in a little cold water. Then give the following powder 
every two hours, until a change for the better has taken 
place : — Prepared chalk, half an ounce ; catechu in powder, 
one drachm; opium in powder, ten grains. Allow the 
animal plenty of water to drink, which will help to keep off 
or allay irritation, or what disposition there may be to in- 
flammation. Bran mashes should be given for a few days, 
so as to overcome the effects of so much drying or binding 
medicine. Cake meal, or ground flaxseed, will be an ex- 
cellent assistant in this particular. 

Diathesis. — When we read in medical books of the 
word diathesis, it means a well-marked tendency in a dis- 
ease by a corresponding diathesis : for example, a cancerous 
diathesis or an inflammatory diathesis. 

Diet. — The different articles used by the horse as food. 

Disinfectants. — French, Delsenfectants ; German, 
Faulnisswidrige Substanzen. 

Disinfectants are such as remove the causes of infection, 
or any injurious taint. To accomplish this effect, disin- 
fectants will have to embrace a class of substances known 
by the name of antiseptics, (agents which prevent animal 
or vegetable matter being decomposed,) and deodorizers 
(agents which destroy hurtful or bad smells, when arising 
from decomposing material.) 

(1 .) Natural Disinfectants. — The atmospheric is the 
great disinfectant. The soil has been found a valuable dis- 
infectant, decomposing animal matter with great quickness, 
and sending out gases which are without taint of any kind. 
Hence, the necessity of deep burial of animals dying, or 
that have been killed, on account of contagious diseases. 



DISINFECTANTS. 73 

Ventilation is entirely a mechanical plan of disinfecting, 
and which it is in the power of every farmer in the land to 
more or less perfect in all buildings containing horses, cattle, 
etc. In ventilating, it is only necessary to admit the purest 
air, and for this purpose have the openings or ventilators 
placed at least eight to ten feet from the ground, as it is 
well known that heavy vapors are sometimes seen a few 
feet above the ground. Also, the ventilation should come 
from the front or top of the building, as the back of a stable 
is never so pure as its front. 

Water is the next great disinfectant employed by nature, 
although moist bodies decay more rapidly than dry. It is 
a disinfectant by the process of washing, which is mechani- 
cal. It is in this way that each shower of rain becomes a 
natural disinfectant. Light is another disinfectant, which 
seems to have been overlooked by many, when their barns 
and stables were built. Without light, the rose would lose 
its color, and man and animals would lose and never attain 
their vigor. 

In proof of the advantage of light in maintaining health 
and warding oifdisease, it is stated that in a barrack at St. 
Petersburg, there was only one case of disease on the side 
laid open to the light, to three on the dark side. 

Heat and cold are two agents highly useful as disinfec- 
tants. Heat prevents fermentation and decay by drying 
and changing the chemical state of substances, as it were, 
by cooking, whether by fire or the sun. Cold, again, is the 
most powerful antiseptic and disinfectant. Frosts prevent 
decay and disease, and at the same time share the connec- 
tion existing between them. 

(2.) Artificial Disinfectants. — Creosote is a most 
powerful antiseptic and disinfectant, when applied to a part, 
but it is not easily managed. Smoke is another good anti- 



74 DISEASES OP THE HORSE. 

septic, as it contains a little creosote. By it herring and 
other fish are preserved. 

Spices, and other aromatic substances, have long been 
used as disinfectants, but they possess no such property, as 
they do not prevent decomposition of bodies; they merely 
cover the smell. 

Chloride of lime and chloride of zinc act as good disin- 
fectants. 

The chloride of manganese is certainly as economical a 
disinfectant as can be used by the farmer. It is cheap'and 
efficient, and not dangerous like chloride of zinc. 

Sulphurous acid, or rather its fumes, has, in all ages, 
been used as a disinfectant, and by general consent is con- 
sidered to be most valuable. Its action on animal and 
vegetable substances is readily seen by the change in color 
produced. In the form of sulphite of soda, it will arrest 
the vinous fermentation in cider and other materials ; or if 
injected into the veins of dead animals, it embalms them 
most perfectly. 

For stables and houses filled with ani- 
mals nothing will answer so well as chloride 
of lime, or McDougal's disinfecting pow- 
ders, applied to the floors and excrement 
once per day with a large dredging box. 

For empty houses chlorine gas will be 

found as convenient and good as any. For 

this purpose, procure a strong wide-mouthed 

flask bottle, fill it about half full of bin-oxide of 

used iu gener- manganese, close all the doors and windows, 

ating chlorine anc ] ot | ier p en pl aceSj then fill up the bottle 

with the spirits of salts, and retire and close 

the door. This may be repeated a few times in the course 

of a week. The fumes that are disengaged will penetrate 




DROPSIES. 75 

to every crevice and corner in the building. This operation 
any farmer can perform himself, as there is no risk what- 
ever. The spirits of salt will have to be kept in a glass- 
stoppered bottle till it is wanted, as it will not only eat a 
common cork, but it will, by exposure to the air, abstract 
moisture from it, by which it greatly loses its virtue and 
strength. As before stated, this plan of disinfecting is only 
to be used when the house is empty. (See Sulphurous Acid 
Gas in Part II.) 

Distemper. — (See Influenza and Strangles.) 

Distemper, Choking. — (See Typhosus.) 

Diuretics. — A name given to those medicines which 
cause an increased secretion from the kidneys. Example, 
chlorate and nitrate of potassa, the Spanish fly, and eupur- 
purin. (See Medicines.) 

Dropsies. — Every school boy is familiar with the term 
dropsy, which means an unnatural accumulation of water 
in the cavities of the body-chest, heart-case, belly, breast, 
sheath, and cellular tissue of the legs. (See Debility.) 

1. When water is in the chest it is called Hydrothorax. 
This is the immediate cause of death in pleurisy in the 
horse and pleuro-pneumonia in cattle, the animal dying by 
suffocation or asphyxia. 

2. When in the belly, it is called Ascites. 

3. When in the cellular tissue, and confined to a portion 
only of the body, as the leg or sheath, it is called (Edema ; 
but if the swellings are over different portions of the body, 
it is called Anasarca. 

4. When in the heart-case or pericardium, it is called 
Dropsy of the Heart. 

Causes. Treatment of diseases by starving, or low diet, 



76 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

bleeding, blistering, and physicking. Injury to a part will 
be followed by watery swellings in the neighboring parts. 

Treatment. Blood-making food and medicines are im- 
peratively demanded. Corn-meal mixed with bran and 
cut hay. Grass, if it can be had. A bottle of strong beef 
tea or soup, given daily, will be of great use. Give the 
following medicine three times a day, either mixed in the 
feed or poured down the mouth with a bottle : Powdered 
sulphate of iron, one drachm; powdered gentian root, two 
drachms; Spanish fly, two grains. Mix. Friction over 
the swelling will be of use. Sometimes it will be neces- 
sary to make slight incisions or cuts through the skin to 
let out the imprisoned fluid. Do not blister such swelling, 
as it is apt to produce ragged, running sores, difficult to 
heal, and leaving a blemish. 

Water in the chest is removed by introducing an instru- 
ment, (see Instruments,) called a trocar, but somewhat 
smaller than the one used for hoven in cattle. Also it is 
removed by absorption and by diuretics, (which see.) 

Dysentery. — (See Diarrhoea.) 

Ear Diseases. — (1 .) Small Tumors. — Sometimes tu- 
mors of various shapes and sizes are seen in the ear of the 
horse, producing a kind of canker in that organ. 

Symptoms. Shaking of the head ; will not let much 
familiarity be made with it; running or starting back, 
when the collar or bridle is being taken up over the ears. 

Causes. Irritation and inflammation of the skin of the 
ear, producing small pimples of proud flesh. 

Treatment. Removal with the knife, scissors, or caustic; 
then apply the simple ointment as for a simple sore. (See 
Prescription in Medicine List.) 

(2.) Injuries of the Ear. — Injuries to the ear take 



EMPHYSEMA. 77 

place from the use of the whip, the bite of a dog, or from 
another horse biting it. 

Treatment Treat as for a common sore, by simple oint- 
ment and by cleanliness. 

(3.) Deafness. — Not often observed in horses. 

(4.) Foreign Substances in the Ear. — Eemove 
them by the forceps. 

(5.) Abscess in the Ear. — Treatment as for Abscess, 
(which see.) 

(6.) Dry Gangrene in the Ear. — Two cases of this 
aifection have been brought to my notice, in which the 
concha of the ear had dried up, withered and dropped off. 

Ecchymosis. — Black spots observed on the lungs of 
cattle and horses having died from pleuro-pneumonia. 

Eczema. — (See Mange.) 

Elephantiasis • — A name applied to a swelled leg. 

(See Grease.) 

Embrocation. — A term applied to liniments. (See Pre- 
scriptions.) 

Emetics. — Medicine, often taken into the stomach of 
man and some animals, causing them to vomit. The horse, 
ox, and sheep do not, or rather cannot vomit. Hence, 
tartar emetic has no effect upon them. 

Emphysema. — This is a name signifying wind-swell- 
ing, caused by the escape of air into the cellular tissue, as 
between the skin and the flesh, or rather the fascia and the 
skin. Pressure with the hand on these windy swellings 
causes a crackling noise or sound. This condition some- 
times arises in the chest, and is attended with difficult 
breathing and anxiety of countenance. 



78 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

Causes. Wounds in the chest, and when underneath the 
skin, it is caused by undue pressure on the part, causing a 
separation of the skin from the fascia. 

Treatment. This consists in evacuating the air by slight 
punctures on the surface of the swelling, assisted by gentle 
pressure of the hand. 

When in the lungs, give good feeding, and occasionally 
small doses of the tincture of aconite root, say ten drops, 
three times in the day, to relieve the breathing, until the 
lungs heal up. 

Encysted Tumors.— (See Tumors.) 

Encephaloid. — (See Tumors.) 

Endermic. — A plan of treating disease by placing the 
medicine in contact with or under the skin. Morphia and 
strychnia are the agents in common use in this form of 
administration (See Typhosus.) 

Enema. — (See Injection.) 

Enteritis. — (See Bowel Diseases.) 

Enzootic. — A good name for cattle disease, as it makes 
the disease among animals instead of upon man. 

Ephemeral. — A fever which runs its course in twelve 
to forty-eight hours. 

Epidemic. — This term is applied to diseases of animals, 
but improperly, as the term is exclusively a name that 
should only be used for diseases when man is the subject. 
Epi, upon, and demo, the people — a disease upon the peo- 
ple. Epizootic is the proper name for animal diseases. 
Epi, upon, zoon, an animal — diseases upon animals. 

Epizootic. — A disease that attacks many animals at 
the same time and season, originating in one common cause. 



EYES. 79 

Examples — epizootic-influenza in the horse, and pleuro- 
pneumonia in cattle. 

Epilepsy. — An epileptic horse should never be used 
for family driving. (See Megrims.) 

Epiphora. — Weeping from theEyes. (See Eye Diseases.) 

Epsom Salts. — (See Medicines.) 

Eruptions. — Eruptions are more a symptom than a 

disease. (See Strangles, Surfeit, Stings of Insects, and 
Scarlatina.) 

Erysipelas. — This, as an independent disease, is not 
often, if at all, seen in horses. It is often present after 
accidents, as a bruise or a broken bone. 

Symptoms. A hard, tense and painful swelling of the 
parts, accompanied with irritation and excitement through 
the entire system. 

Treatment. Give twenty to twenty-five drops of the tinc- 
ture of aconite root four times in a day, to calm the sys- 
tem. Apply cold iced water, with woollen cloths, to the 
part. If from broken bones, try and remove, or adjust 
them in position to one another, and secure them so with 
splint and bandage. In severe cases of broken bones, the 
animal had better be killed. (See Fractures.) 

Exostosis. — (See Splint and Bony Tumors.) 

Eyes, Diseases of the. — Before referring to the dis- 
eases of this organ, it may be necessary to say a few words 
as to the structure of the eye. 

(1.) The eyelids are composed of skin, and under it the 
fibres of a circular muscle which close the eyelids. The 
eyelids are lined internally with a mucous membrane called 



80 DISEASES OF THE HOESE. 

the conjunctiva, which is reflected from them over the ante- 
rior surface of the eyeball. 

(2.) The globe of the eye is not exactly round, for it is 
more like a segment of a smaller circle put into a greater 
one. 

(3.) The clear portion of the eye is called the cornea, and 
forms a portion of the globe. 

(4.) The sclerotic coat is what is called the white of the 
eye; and just back of it is what is called the choroid coat 
of the eye. And immediately within this choroid coat is 
placed the retina, or the expansion of the optic nerve, or 
the nerve of sight. 

(5.) The humors of the eye occupy the anterior chamber, 
as well as pass into the posterior. The iris floats in this 
humor, and behind it will be found the magnifying lens of 
the eye. This is a double convex, and is placed in the 
centre of vision, and fronting the next, or vitreous humor 
of the eye. This humor is enclosed in a capsule called the 
hyaloid membrane. The eyes of the horse are so placed in 
his head, that he, at the same time, sees different objects 
with each eye, which peculiarity accounts for the shying 
and starting, when one eye is imperfect or diseased. If 
one eye only be altogether destroyed, the horse will not shy 
or start, but will be a useful animal. This is the reason 
why cataract on the eye of a horse had better be let alone, 
as any imperfect sight will make the horse dangerous to 
drive, objects being seen in distorted form. Better the eye 
be completely destroyed than partially so. 

(1.) Amaurosis. — This is the same disease that Milton 
was affected with, and was called by him "drop serene." 
It is a complete or partial blindness from loss of sensation 
or feeling of the optic nerve. 

Symptoms. This is the most serious disease affecting the 



EYES. 81 

eye of either man or horse, and is ushered in by weeping 
and partial closure of the eyelids. A thin film or scum 
will soon be observed to spread over the whole of the front 
of the eye. This condition will pass off for a week or two, 
and then return with increased violence until the sight will 
be entirely destroyed. Spots will be seen between each 
attack, deep in the eye, gradually increasing in size, till the 
nerve of sight is totally destroyed. 

Causes. Inflammation affecting the brain, tumors, or 
bone pressing upon the optic nerve. 

Treatment. Doubtful of cure. Small doses of strychnine 
may be tried to restore the sensibility of the optic nerve, or 
colchicum may be used. (See Medicine.) 

Observe. There are many horses with extremely flat fore- 
heads, the bones seemingly pressing upon the lower por- 
tion of the brain, just where the optic nerve is given out to 
the eyes. These flat-headed (that is, in front of the head) 
horses, I have observed to go blind about the seventh year 
of their age. Blindness arising from such a cause, may 
justly be laid at the door of hereditary causes. Breeding 
from blind mares should, therefore, be, as a rule, avoided. 
If a mare from accident become blind, there are no scien- 
tific reasons why she should not be used for breeding pur- 
poses. What is to be observed is, not to breed from a mare 
that has a very flat forehead and has not gone blind from 
accident or injury to the eye. 

(2.) Floating Spots in the Eye. — Sometimes dark 
cloudy spots or specks will be seen floating in the eye, 
more or less movable, rising and falling, as the eye itself 
moves. If they are unattended with weakness of the eye, 
or the spots are not fixed, and dark, indicating the com- 
mencement of the disease named above, they will be no 
great injury. 
6 



82 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

Causes. Some constitutional disturbance, over-driving, 
or hard work. 

Treatment. Inject, or apply cold water several times in 
the day. 

(3.) Iritis. — Inflammation of the iris. 

Causes. Cold and exposure, producing rheumatism in 
tliat portion of the eye. 

Symptoms. Redness of the eye, and muddy color of the 
cornea. The iris is a little changed in color. 

Treatment. The application of moist poultices to the eye 
for a few days to allay inflammation, or irritation. Then 
apply three times daily, with a small brush called a camel's 
hair pencil, the following mixture: Nitrate of silver, 
twelve grains ; rain water, four ounces. The brush to be 
dipped in the mixture, and drawn lightly across within the 
eye. Keep the horse from the light as much as possible. 

(4.) Inflammation of the Sclerotic Coat. 

Symptoms. The coat is of a pink-red color. 

Cause. Rheumatism. 

Treatment. A teaspoonful of the wine of colchicum root, 
four times in the day ; comfortable stabling and generous 
feeding. 

Half-drachm doses of the iodide of potassium may be 
tried in this case. Half-ounce doses of sesquicarbonate of 
soda, occasionally, will be of service. 

(5.) Polypi. Small excrescences are sometimes seen to 
arise from the iris, but require no treatment, as they will 
pass away of themselves. 

(6.) Spots and Ulceration of the Cornea. 

Symptoms. Blood-vessels tinged with blood ; small ele- 
vated spots, which are sometimes ulcers, and at other times 
small abscesses, owing to the abscesses being whole or 
broken. 



EYES. 83 

Treatment Take belladonna, half a drachm ; cold water, 
six ounces. Mix, and apply to the parts with a camel's 
hair pencil dipped in the mixture. Scarify or open the 
angular veins of the eye, and foment with warm water, to 
insure a good flow of blood. This treatment should be 
followed by a lotion of the nitrate of silver, or of blue stone 
— sulphate of copper, (see Medicines,) to destroy the ulcers 
inside of the eyelids ; then apply the belladonna lotion as 
before. It will require repeated applications alternately 
to effect a complete cure. It will be advisable to feed the 
horse well, to increase absorption of effused fluids and 
thickenings. Iron and gentian will be useful. (See Medi- 
cines and Prescriptions.) 

(7.) Weeping from the Eye. — This is more properly 
a symptom than a disease — a swelling of the caruncula 
lachrymalis — a small, round body. 

Treatment. Touch the swelling with a camel's hair 
pencil dipped in the lotion of blue stone, or nitrate of 
silver. Four grains to an ounce of rain water, will be 
strong enough for this purpose. This treatment will cure 
the weeping, provided the tear-duct be open. 

(8.) Closing of the Eyelids. — Treatment. Apply 
warm water with a sponge for a period sufficiently long, so 
as to dissolve or dilute the mucus, which causes the lids to 
stick together. To prevent a recurrence during some dis- 
eases of the eyes, smear the lids with sweet oil, or cold 
cream, every night while the disease lasts. 

(9.) Hair Growing in the Eye. — Scientifically, this 
is called Trichiasis. The removal of the hair by tweezers 
or forceps, and the application of some eye-wash to remove 
the irritation, are the proper means to be employed. 

(10.) Swelling of the Eyelids. — This is sometimes 
observed in bad cases of mange, (which see.) 



84 



DISEASES OP THE HORSE, 



(11.) Simple Ophthalmia, orCatarrhalOphthal- 
mia. — Symptoms. A thick, raucous discharge from the eye, 
accompanying cases of cold or catarrh, redness and swelling 
of the membrane lining the inside of the eyelids. This 
condition and appearance resemble the lining of the nose 
in cases of cold. This affection may, with propriety, be 
called muco-purulent ophthalmia, and it is not unlike the 
Egyptian ophthalmia of man, produced by the introduction 
of the flying sands of the Arabian desert. Ophthalmia may 
be simple or acute; consequently the treatment will be ac- 
cordingly. 




OPERATING ON THE EYE. 



EYES. 85 

Treatment. The application of cold water ; or if the cold 
seem to give pain, warm water should be used instead. 
Open the angular veins. This is done as follows: Take 
a sharp knife, and simply cut the skin and the veins which 
are seen underneath at the lower corner of the eye, and 
bathe with warm water, which will induce them to bleed 
freely. Give grass, or some other opening and cool feed. 
Give, also, half-ounce doses of sulphite of soda daily for a 
few days. The nitrate of silver lotion, or the blue-stone, 
will do; it is cheap and easily procured, and therefore 
better adapted for the farmer or stable man. Apply as 
elsewhere recommended. Never use sugar of lead lotions 
as an eye-wash to the eye, which books so often recommend. 
They are positively injurious to the eye by their producing 
dulness, or opacity of the cornea — or the clear, transparent 
part of the eye — the very brightness of which indicates 
health, beauty, and intelligence in a horse ; so, once for all, 
I say, use no Goulard's solution of lead. Copper is in- 
finitely better, and never leaves dimness of the eye or vision. 
If copper be not at hand, chloride of zinc, one grain, to an 
ounce of rain or distilled water, is an excellent application 
to the eye of a horse suffering from purulent opthalmia. 
(See Medicines and Prescriptions.) 

(12.) Moon Blindness, terminating in Cataract. — 
This disease is a serious one, and frequent, consisting of in- 
flammation of the internal parts of the eye-ball, the choroid 
coat and the iris more particularly. 

Symptoms. In the morning, perhaps, the eyelids will be 
found closed ; a large flow of tears ; the back portion of the 
eye dim and clouded. No specks are to be seen, as in some 
other diseases of the eye. A yellow border will be observed 
at the bottom of the chamber. This is pus. The attack, 
or inflammation, will last from two to three weeks ; at the 



86 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

end of which time the eye will brighten tip, and the ordi- 
nary observer may think that the eye is completely cured. 
The pus is entirely absorbed, scarcely leaving any traces 
behind, except a degree of dimness. In one, two, or three 
months, and not by the regularity of the moon's changes, 
as horsemen suppose, the disease reappears, having the 
same symptoms and characteristics as in the first attack, 
only a greater deposit of pus will be left at each subsequent 
attack. One attack succeeds another until the whole pupil 
is rilled with matter, constituting cataract, thus completely 
destroying the eyesight. This disease is usually at first 
confined to one eye, but in some cases both are affected, one 
usually more severely than the other. 

Treatment. This disease is deemed incurable, which fact 
has often induced the owner of an animal thus affected to 
sell him, being well aware that the disease will at no distant 
day return, and leave upon his hands a blind horse. An 
application of cold water and the tincture of opium should 
be used to allay pain and irritation ; cold water, one ounce ; 
tincture of opium, two drachms; to be applied by means 
of a camel's hair pencil. 

Observe. When one eye of a horse is affected with this 
disease, the other will also ultimately become affected. To 
prevent this, it has been advised, as is done in man, to have 
the diseased eye entirely extirpated. In horses, I would 
rather puncture the cornea with a lancet, and allow the 
watery humor to escape, thus permitting the diseased eye 
to sink in the head. This being; done successfullv the 
remaining eye will not only retain, but will increase in 
lustre and brightness. 

False Quarter. — (See Foot Diseases.) 

Farcy. — The reader will be not a little surprised at the 



FAECY. 87 

opinions that are advanced by me in regard to this disease, 
especially if he be a reader of the books on the diseases of 
horses. In these books we are distinctly told that farcy is 
a variety of glanders, and that farcy buds are of the same 
nature as the ulcers of the lining membrane of the nose in 
cases of glanders. This may or may not be true. But 
why not have given the reasons why these relations were 
so sustained to each other? Thus assertion is put for fact, 
and ignorance for great knowledge. Farcy is not a disease 
attacking the absorbent vessels, nor glanders of the lining 
membranes of the nose. Farcy, we are again told, is cura- 
ble, and in the very next sentence that glanders is incura- 
ble. Why this peculiarity ? For if the diseases be the 
same, they should be equally susceptible of cure. From all 
that has been said and written on the subject of farcy and 
glanders, nothing satisfactory has been gained, but much 
that is calculated to perplex. Farcy is the " scrofula" of 
the horse. It is unknown in countries and climes where 
this disease in man is never seen, and a disease inseparable 
from the present manner of domestication. In a word, the 
disease called farcy is nothing more or less than the effects 
of a class of pathogens called ferments, leavens, or zumins, 
acting and producing fermentation in the blood. (See 
Glanders.) In medicines zumins are used, such as yeast, 
rennet, pepsin, and cow-pox matter. Among the various 
diseases of the horse produced by ferments, are glanders, 
farcy, purpura, grease, and several eruptions of the skin 
and legs. This is readily explained. For instance, if the 
liver, kidneys, skin, and bowels of a horse be not acting 
right, how is effete matter to be eliminated or carried from 
the blood or the body of the animal ? This effete matter, 
as a small piece of membrane, dead bone or pus, not escap- 
ing by the usual channels, will decay and become an active 



88 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

ferment in the blood and in the fluids of the body. This, 
then, is the only true explanation of the phenomena of 
farcy in the horse. 

Symptoms. An unhealthy coat ; bad habit of body ; one 
leg, usually the fore leg, will swell to a very large size — 
hot and painful, and in a day or two it will break out in 
small, running ulcers, or sores, discharging a sanious fluid, 
sometimes of a thick and resinous color. On the inside 
of the leg, or on the side of the body or the neck, will be 
seen a thick, corded, and elevated substance under the skin 
of considerable hardness, and interrupted at distances with 
a small sore similar to that on the leg. In some cases — 
not in every case — circumscribed, and soft, puify swellings 
will be seen about the mouth, lips, and indeed on many 
parts of the body. These swellings are not to be con- 
founded with swelling of the legs, belly, breast, sheath, 
etc., in cases of weakness or debility. These swellings 
have been named water farcy by some people, but have no 
connection with true or malignant farcy whatever, and are 
not in any way infectious or contagious. After some alter- 
ations and changes occupying a few weeks, the animal be- 
comes much changed for the worse, the blood becoming so 
deteriorated and changed in character that the animal's 
vitality soon gives way, and the horse dies a miserable 
object. 

Causes. Overcrowding horses in small and insufficient 
houses, with little or no ventilation, each animal repeatedly 
breathing the noxious or waste material from the lungs of 
his companions, thus introducing into the blood a powerful 
pathogen in the form of a ferment; inoculation from the 
virus of glandered or farcied horses, the inoculation pro- 
ducing a ferment ; debility, ending in changing the charac- 
ter of the blood. Absorption of pus from sores or ulcers 



FAECY. 89 

into the blood is another powerful ferment, and ends either 
in farcy, glanders, or some other zymotic disease. 

Treatment. Having fully and sufficiently explained the 
cause of this disease, the treatment is almost already pointed 
out, namely, remove the cause, and the effects will cease. 
For this purpose give the following substance twice a day, 
a tablespoonful to a dose : Sulphite (not sulphate) of soda. 
This new chemical salt will purify the blood, as its action 
destroys fermentation, whether in a barrel of wine, cider, 
or in the blood of a horse. Continuing this till the horse 
is well, and for a few weeks afterwards, two or three times 
a week, will be of good service. (See Sulphite of Soda.) 
While the blood is thus being purified and made fit once 
more for the purpose of life, it will be necessary to add 
something to it also, thus assisting the powers of the con- 
stitution to overcome the difficulty. We will not only 
add to the blood, but give something to facilitate the re- 
moval of the effete matter from the body, without weak- 
ening the animal with debilitating diuretics. For this 
purpose, the following medicine will be given : Powdered 
sulphate of copper, three ounces; powdered Spanish fly, 
one drachm; powdered gentian root, four ounces. Mix, 
and divide into twelve powders, and give one powder at 
night in some good feed, with no more cold water in it 
than will keep the particles of the feed together. These 
powders will do for two weeks; at the end of that time 
get more, and continue them till the horse is well. In ad- 
dition to what has been recommended, give grass, and 
good and generous feed, for by these means the power and 
strength of the body will be kept up, and a cure will be 
more surely and speedily effected. 

While this treatment is going on, the horse will have to 
be removed to a place by himself, or from healthy animals. 



90 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

Keep all articles used in feeding, clothing, and cleansing 
him, in the building with him. Remember, this is con- 
sidered one of the contagious diseases of the horse. Not 
only the safety of your own, but of your neighbor's horse, 
depends upon your observance of these directions. In case 
you should place a horse so affected, either in a field next 
to your neighbor, or in his stable, and his horses become 
affected, you will be liable to a suit at law for damages 
arising therefrom. From my experience in horse causes in 
the courts of Philadelphia, it will be easier to bring a suit 
than to gain it, if there be scientific witnesses on the stand, 
as the question will arise. Was the disease, or was it not, 
communicated from the sick horse so placed? Obviously, 
these are questions more easily asked than answered. 

Fatty Tumor.— (See Tumors.) 

Farrier. — Properly, this title belongs to the blacksmith, 
whether a horse shoer, or of other branches of iron work- 
ing, faber ferrarius ; but from some idea or other, we hear 
of persons, otherwise well informed, saying, when speaking 
of accident or sickness to horses, to have or send for a. far- 
rier. Now, what is there possessed by workers in iron, 
that they should know any more about diseases and their 
treatment than is possessed by a worker in wood. Persons 
of education should look into the etymology of a term, 
even if it should be used by the mass of the people : for it 
is by the language and general deportment, that a man of 
education is known from his less learned prototype. 

Fever, Putrid. — (See Typhosus.) 

Fever, Sympathetic. — This variety of fever is that 
which is produced by accident and disease. Thus, a horse 
gets a nail in the sensitive part of the foot, excitement, or 
sympathetic fever is an accompaniment. Lung disease is 



FISTULA. 91 

accompanied with fever, and hence it is called lung fever. 
Fever in the feet is a common expression, signifying sym- 
pathetic fever. Indeed, it is a question in my mind, whether 
fevers of all kinds are not to be attributed to some local or 
general disturbance of some action or function of the body. 
Thus, the many fevers which attack the human family, can 
readily be traced to a predisposing cause; as, for example, 
typhus fever is caused by insufficient ventilation, besieged 
towns and garrisons, preventing the removal of exuvia. 

Fever in the Feet. — This is a common disease of 
horses in large towns and cities, where the streets are paved 
with stone or iron, whereby the concussion is very great, 
when horses are driven fast. (See Founder.) 

Fibroma, — A variety of tumor. (See Tumors.) 

Firing Horses. — This is an operation which is a great 
favorite, and in much repute among horse doctors. For 
my part, I think it is not only cruel and barbarous, but 
unnecessary, doing no good whatever, and in many cases a 
positive injury, the effects of which will never disappear 
from the legs or body while the animal lives. Firing is 
intended by its advocates to prevent and cure spavin, 
curbs, sprains, and ring bones, by scoring the parts with a 
red hot iron in lines over the part that is thought will be 
diseased or are already so. 

Fistula. — Examples. Fistula of the shoulder, of the 
poll, poll-evil, (which see,) and quittor or sinuses of the 
foot, (which see.) Fistulas are usually deep-seated, but 
sometimes they are superficial, or just under the skin. 
However, although we see them sometimes so situated, 
it must be confessed that the cases are extremely rare. 
The fistula most frequent and difficult of cure is always 
deep-seated and in the vicinity of a joint, as the poll and 



92 DISEASES OF THE HOESE. 

shoulder. The reason of this is easy of explanation, for 
when these parts get injured, and suppurative action is set 
up, the pus, instead of pointing to the outward surface, 
burrows down in among the loose textures, and forms 
sinuses or pipes, pointing in several directions. Fistula 
differs from a simple abscess in this particular, and there- 
fore is difficult of cure. The pus secreted is nearly the 
same. The pus in a simple abscess is secreted from, and 
is a liquification of, the surrounding tissue; but the pus of 
fistula is secreted from the walls of a fibrous sack, which 
is formed in most cases of fistula. The fistula may be open 
or whole, presenting a large swelling. 

Symptoms. Pain on pressure of the parts affected, fol- 
lowed by heat, pain, and swelling, circumscribed in shape, 
hard at first, and becoming soft and fluctuating upon 
pressure by the finger — a sure indication of fluid within. 
This swelling, from the firmness and integrity of the sack 
and skin in which it is enclosed, does not break, nor yet 
form sinuses that take on the character of an encysted 
tumor, which does not break of its own accord, as simple 
abscesses do. At other times, the fistulous tumor breaks 
or opens in several places, and small holes discharge pus, 
some to-day and none to-morrow. The day the discharge 
is free, the pain and swelling is less. Among the pus will 
be observed organized matter similar to cheese, or in other 
words, not uniform in thickness or appearance. This is a 
disease that rarely ever gets well of its own efforts, from 
the fact of the sore having a sack, which is only removed 
by art; also, from the situation of fistula presenting no 
depending opening for the outlet of the pus. 

Causes. Bruises, accidents, caries of the bones, (which 
see,) inflammation of the bone, or any accident that will 
cause a simple abscess, will cause fistula. 



FITS. 93 

A blow that would produce a common abscess ou some 
portion of the body, will result in fistula in other portions, 
as in the vicinity of a joint. 

Treatment. If the swelling is just forming, endeavor to 
put it back by placing chopped ice, in a bag, over it for a 
few days. By this means, many a swelling which would 
terminate in a fistula, will be cured at once. This not 
succeeding, have an opening made into its lowest side, so 
as the bloody water, which it at this time contains, will be 
discharged. Then syringe a half tablespoonful of the 
tincture of iodine into it once in the day for a few days, to 
eat or destroy the membranous sack. Then treat it as a 
common sore by keeping it clean, and the opening from 
closing before it has healed from the bottom. For this 
purpose, place a small piece of cotton in the mouth of the 
opening, smeared with simple ointment. (See Medicines 
and Prescriptions.) 

Fistula in the Foot. — This disease, by common con- 
sent, is called quittor, a fistulous abscess in the foot. (See 
Quittor.) 

Fistulous Withers. — By farmers called Thisolow, or 
Fisolow. This is an affection described in the preceding 
article, with this difference in some cases, that it extends 
through over the top of the bones of the withers or shoul- 
ders to the other side, thus forming a very broad pad, as 
it were, on the top of the shoulder, just w T here the shoul- 
der in health is the sharpest and narrowest. 

Treatment. Lay chopped ice, in bags, over the swelling, 
and, if necessary, open and take out the sack, or destroy it 
by the injection of the tincture of iodine, and dress as for 
a common sore. (See preceding Article and Poll-Evil.) 

Fits. — This is a term applied to horses subject to me- 



94 DISEA8ES OF THE HORSE. 

grims, or staggers, (which see,) causing them, to fall. 
Hence, the expression, " fitty horse." 

Flaxseed. — Every part of this seed is used one way or 
another in the treatment of diseases of the horse. The 
ground seed, mixed with warm water, is an excellent cool- 
ing food for horses, almost a laxative. The pressed juice, 
or oil, is a certain and safe purgative for the horse, in 
quart doses. The residue, which remains after the oil has 
been pressed, commonly called cake meal, when mixed 
with warm water, makes the best of poultices to a sore or 
wound. (See Poultices.) 

Food, Hints on. — 1. All horses must not be fed in 
the same proportions, without due regard to their ages, 
their constitutions, and their work. Because the impro- 
priety of such a practice is self-evident. Yet it is constantly 
done, and is the basis of disease of every kind. 

2. Never use bad hay on account of its cheapness. 
Because there is not proper nourishment in it. 

3. Damaged corn is exceedingly injurious. Because it 
brings on inflammation of the Boweh and skin diseases. 

4. Chaff is better for old horses than hay. Because they 
can chew and digest it better. 

5. Mix chaff with corn or oats, and do not give them 
alone. Because it makes the horse chew his food more and 
digest it better. 

6. Hay or grass alone will not support a horse under 
hard work. Because there is not sufficient nutritive body in 
either. 

7. When a horse is worked hard his food should chiefly 
be oats and corn : if not worked hard, his food should 
chiefly be hay. Because oats and corn supply more nourish- 
ment and flesh-making material than any other kind of food. 
Hay not so much. 



FOOD. 95 

8. For a saddle or coach-horse, half a peck of sound oats 
and eighteen pounds of good hay are sufficient. If the 
hay is not good, add a quarter of a peck more oats. A 
horse that works harder may have rather more of each ; 
one that works little should have less. 

9. Rack feeding is wasteful. The better plan is to feed 
with chopped hay, from a manger. Because the food is not 

then thrown about, and is more easily chewed and digested. 

10. Sprinkle the hay with water that has salt dissolved 
in it. Because it is pleasing to the animal's taste, and 
more easily digested. [A teaspoonful of salt in a bucket 
of water is sufficient.] 

11. Oats and corn should be bruised for an old horse 
but not for a young one. Because the former, through age 
and defective teeth, cannot chew them properly ; the young 
horse can do so, and they are thus properly mixed with the 
saliva, and turned into wholesome nutriment 

12. Grass must always be cut for hay before the seed 
drops. Because the juices that ripen the seed are the most 
valuable part of the hay. If they are sucked out by its 
ripening and dropping, the grass will not turn into 
HAY ; but will only wither and grow yellow. 

13. Vetches and cut grass should always be given in the 
spring to horses that cannot be turned out into the fields. 
Because they are very cooling and refreshing, and almost 
medicinal in their effects ; but they must be supplied in 
moderation, as they are liable to ferment in the stomach if 
given largely. 

14. Water your horse from a pond or stream, rather 
than from a spring or well. Because the latter is general- 
ly hard and cold, while the former is soft, and comparatively 
warm. The horse prefers soft, muddy water to hard water, 
though ever so clear. 



96 DISEASES OP THE HORSE. 

15. A horse should have at least a pail of water, morn- 
ing and evening; or (still better) four half-pailfuls, at four 
several times in the day. Because this assuages his thirst 
without bloating him. Bat he should not be made to work 
directly after he has had a full draught of water ; 
for digestion and exertion can never go on together. 

16. Do not allow your horse to have warm water to 
drink. Because, if he has to drink cold water, after getting 
accustomed to warm, it will give him the colic. 

17. When your horse refuses his food, after drinking, 
go no further that day. Because the poor creature is 
thoroughly beaten. (See Humanity to Animals.) 

Fomentations* — This term has been used exclusively 
in the application of warm water to an inflamed or sprained 
part, and sometimes to a sore. I may be right or may be 
wrong, when I say that the application of cold water to 
parts similarly affected, are just as much entitled to the 
term fomentation, for certainly it is applied the same way 
and for the same purpose, namely, to allay irritation in the 
sore or sprained part ; and it has from my own experience 
proved to have a much better effect, and in as short a time. 
Cold, applied, has an effect to brace, strengthen, and give 
tonicity to relaxed sprains and sores. Warmth has an 
opposite effect, i. e., to relax and debilitate. In foot dis- 
eases, warm water will be preferable for softening the horn. 
W T here warm water is used, the case should be treated 
afterwards by cold fomentations. A good way to apply 
cold water is by means of wet woolen cloths wrapped 
loosely around the parts, and wet every hour or so before 
the skin becomes warm. At night take all the cloths off: 
this will prevent scalding, and falling off of the hair. 

Warm water should be applied the same way as cold. 

Either cold or warm fomentations should be continued 



FOOT DISEASES. 97 

for a time to get their benefits. It will be well to remem- 
ber, that when the cloths are allowed to become dry, an 
opposite reaction is immediately set up. Cold is followed 
by increased warmth in the parts. Warmth is followed by 
cold. This should be well understood, for in my opinion 
cold applications, with absolute and entire rest, are the 
only and best agents for the speedy and sure cure of 
sprains in whatever part of the legs or body. 

Foot Diseases, — (1.) Canker in the Foot. — Hap- 
pily, this is a rare affection, because it is not easily managed 
from the peculiar tendency in the horse's foot to grow and 
produce proud flesh, which is the essential principle of 
the affection. Canker in the foot of a horse may be said 
to be a foot deprived of a part of it ssole, in lieu of which 
a fungus is formed. It is difficult to keep it level with 
the remaining portion of the sole. Not only so, but 
we have to change this disposition in the foot to throw out 
such material, and induce the material to secrete or produce 
a new sole. This is the difficulty to be experienced in the 
treatment of this affection. Nevertheless, cases, and very 
hard ones, too, have been cured, but not in a day, nor a 
week, but months. 

Causes. Injuries to the sensitive sole by nails, bruises, 
and other accidents, as a piece of the sole being torn off. 

Treatment. Removal of any diseased or dead sole, and 
the proud flesh. For this purpose, the knife will have to 
be used to remove the dead sole, and, if it be in the hands 
of an energetic person, the most of the fungus or proud 
flesh can be taken off in the same manner. If not, get 
caustic potash, and quickly reduce it to a coarse powder, as 
it soon dissolves on exposure to the air. Lay it upon the 
raw surface. This apply next day, if the first application 
has not removed sufficient or all of it. After the proud 
7 



98 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

flesh has been entirely taken off, or leveled with the sole 
proper, dress every day with Barbadoes tar, one pound ; 
sulphuric acid, three drachms ; powdered sulphate of cop- 
per, half an ounce. Mix well, and spread a portion over 
the sore foot, and over this dressing a pad of tow or 
cotton, held firmly down on the padding so as to produce 
pressure, an important matter in the treatment of canker in 
the foot. This can be secured by thin pieces of splint 
from young wood, being placed across one another over the 
pad, and the ends pushed in between the foot and the shoe. 
By this means, and a little patience, with a little ingenuity 
in fixing and applying these pads, etc., even very bad cases 
can be cured. 

(2.) Contraction. — This is not so much a disease as it 
is bad management in the stable and in the blacksmith's 
shop. Contraction may be said to be an alteration of the 
shape and structure of the posterior, or back portion of the 
hoof — a winding in of the heels. 

Causes. Want of proper knowledge on the part of the 
owner or horse-shoer in not knowing the difference be- 
tween the foot that would require a piece added to it at 
each shoeing, and the one that requires a large portion 
taken from it, so as to insure elasticity and expansion. A 
foot strong and inelastic, and unyielding to the weight of 
the animal, is the very first foot to become contracted. I 
know flat, weak-footed horses travelling sound for ten or 
fifteen years, without in the least being contracted. So 
long as we have strong-hoofed horses, and shod with an 
inflexible iron ring to prevent wear and tear, and the 
blacksmith neglects to take off of each hoof at the shoeing 
as much horn as the horse would have worn if he had been 
in the natural state and not shod, we will have contraction. 

Treatment. Cut down the hoof and shorten the toe, and 



FOOT DISEASES. 99 

make the hard and inelastic foot one that will expand at 
its heels every time the weight of the animal puts his foot 
to the ground. 

One-sided nailing is an excellent preventative, as well as 
an assistant in the cure of contracted feet. What is meant 
by one-sided nailing is, that nails are to be confined to the 
outside toe of the foot, so as to allow free expansion for the 
heels. This cannot be done with the shoe being nailed on 
by nails placed at each side. To illustrate this point, place 
a small horse-shoe flat in the palm of the hand with the 
fingers close to one another; then tie, with a piece of cord, 
the little finger to one side of the shoe, and the thumb to 
the other side ; then you will realize to what extent you 
can expand the fingers so secured. So it is just with the 
foot of a horse with the shoe nailed on at each side. Re- 
move the cord from one finger, and the whole hand is free 
to expand. So likewise the foot of the horse by one-sided 
nailing. 

(3.) Corns. — This is a red spot on the inner portion of 
the heel of the foot, causing lameness, and consists of a 
bruise from the shoe pressing upon the part, the shoes 
having shifted from their proper position, or never having 
been placed there. In general, the production of corns 
may be laid to the charge of the horse-shoer,and sometimes 
to the owner allowing the horse to go too long before the 
shoes are removed, or before the foot has grown from the 
shoes. Corn is an analogical term, although bearing no 
resemblence to that well-known affection of the feet of man. 

Treatment. Remove the corns by cutting them out ; then 
apply a few drops of commercial sulphuric acid to the part. 
Shoe the horse sufficiently often to insure even bearing to 
the shoe upon the wall only of the foot. 

(4.) False Quarter. — This is a term applied to the 



100 



DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



horn or portion of the hoof, which overlaps or bulges out 
from the line of the sound portion of the hoof. 

Causes. An injury to the coronet or ligament, which 
secretes, or from which the hoof grows. This causes an 
alteration of the horn of the hoof below, corresponding to 
the extent of the injury. 

Treatment. As there will be an enlargement, more or 
less, remaining after an injury to the coronet, little will be 
required to be done, but to keep the horn as level with the 
hoof proper as possible, in order to make it look less of an 
eye-sore. 

(5.) Inflammation of the Foot. — (See Founder.) 
(6.) Pricks. — Pricks may occur in the act of shoeing, 
or from a nail being picked up on the street, and from 
other hard-pointed substances. 

Treatment. Pull the nail out, and poultice the foot for 
twenty-four hours ; then make an opening through the horn, 
over the place where the nail went in, so as to allow the 

pus to escape. For, if this 
be not done, and the pus is 
left in the foot, it will in a 
few days, and at a great ex- 
pense of suffering to the 
horse, break out between the 
hoof and the hair, constitu- 
ting quittor. After an open- 
ing has been properly made, 
drop five drops of muriatic 
acid into the hole once a day, 
for a day or two. Poultice every second night or day, and 
not oftener. A healthy hoof can be poulticed off by 
constant application. 

The horse can go to work as soon as he can step on the 




FOOT LANCET. 



FOOT DISEASES. 101 

ground firmly and without lameness. Remember that, 
in all cases of pricks and other injuries which end in sup- 
puration, as pus in the foot of a horse, make a thorough 
opening so as to allow the pus to escape, and no more trouble 
need be apprehended ; except the nail has entered into 
one of the tendons of the foot, in that case no pus will be 
usually formed, the majority of cases ending in locked-jaw, 
(which see.) Where pus is formed after pricking, no 
locked-jaw follows; it is in those cases only where pus is 
not formed that locked-jaw may be expected. 

(7.) Bruises of the Foot. — (Treat as for Prick of Foot.) 

(8.) Sand or Quarter Crack. — This is a crack or split 
in the hoof, usually on the inner side of the fore foot, al- 
though splits and cracks occur in all places, and in both 
fore and hind feet. 

Causes. A brittle condition of the hoof, from the want 
of sufficient moisture. In some cases the horse does not 
stand square upon his fore feet, thereby causing undue 
weight to fall upon one of the sides of the hoof and causing 
it to crack. 

Prevention. Apply to brittle feet equal portions of the 
oil of tar, and cod liver oil, whale oil, or any fish oil well 
rubbed in with a brush to the hoofs a few times a week; 
and occasionally apply wet cloths to the feet in the sum- 
mer season. In winter the feet are better supplied with 
moisture. 

Treatment. Rasp the edges of the crack thin, the nearer 
the crack the thinner the horn should be made; this can be 
filled up with shoemaker's wax. After the horn has been 
properly thinned a piece of the wall of the hoof, for about 
half an inch on each side of the crack, is to be cut out to 
prevent any bearing of the shoe upon it, thereby prevent- 
ing the constant opening, shutting, and sometimes bleeding 



102 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

from the crack. To prevent, or rather to cause the new 
horn to grow down whole and without a crack in it, a 
piece of iron is to he placed in the fire and made red hot, 
and then applied, just for a moment, flat on the hair at the 
head of the crack sufficient to make a scab. This will in- 
sure a solid growth of horn. Promote the growth of the 
horn as speedily as possible, to facilitate a cure ; the strap 
is used by some round the hoof to prevent opening of the 
crack. 

(9.) Navicular Disease. — This is a disease of a bone in 
the foot of the horse ; a serious disease, and often very ob- 
scure in its symptoms, altogether depending as to the 
advanced condition of the disease. Happily, however, it is 
scarcely met with and then only in the common hack horse. 
It consists of ulceration, of various degrees, on the surface 
of the navicular bone within the foot. 

Causes. Hard and constant work upon streets paved 
with stones. Slight inflammation neglected and the horse 
not laid up until it gets well, and then inflammation in- 
creasing, until it ends in ulceration of the bone. 

Symptoms. Obscure, or at least very like many of the 
symptoms si miliar to other diseases of the feet and legs. 
It is chiefly determined by the undue heat in the foot, and 
by the fact that no diseases can be detected elsewhere or of 
a different kind. In lameness of other portion, not in the 
foot, we have heat and swelling — the hoof or foot of the 
horse cannot swell. It is a box, and we cannot see into 
it to examine its contents and condition. 

Treatment. Incurable, although much can be done to 
relieve the pain, by the application of moisture, poultices, 
and occasionally placing the hoof in warm water to soften 
and relieve pressure. Some have recommended a blister 
around the coronet. I cannot see on what scientific, or 



Foot diseases. 103 

other grounds, it will do good. In well established cases, 
and in good strong feet, the division of the nerves which 
run down on each side of the leg and into the foot, will 
relieve the pain and the horse will go well for years. But 
unfortunately many cases so operated upon have lost their 
hoofs by falling off which have been unjustly laid to the 
operation. The cause of this is not so much in the operation 
as in the operator having no judgment as to the kind of 
hoof, and whether the operation would be successful 
or not. It would be obviously improper to recommend 
the operation upon a flat-footed horse, as the animal 
deprived of pain would let his thin-soled foot come down 
to the ground with great force and weight, thus injuring 
the whole structure to such an extent, that suppuration 
takes place and ultimately the sloughing and falling off of 
the hoof. 

(10.) Seedy Toe. — This is a name given to a split in the 
centre of either fore or hind foot, extending a little way up 
from the point, or it may be up to the hair itself. 

Causes. The same as those producing sand-crack, (which 
see.) 

Treatment. In bad cases a clasp or plate of iron secured 
by short screws. In simple crack or split from the toe 
upwards, cut off all communication of the sound parts with 
the cracked or split portion. For this purpose a three- 
edged file will be a good instrument for making the divi- 
sion. At each shoeing the split portion will gradually 
become less or shorter. 

(11.) Pumiced Sole. — This name is used or applied to 
the sole of a foot which is convex instead of concave; that 
is, instead of the nice cupped foot, the bottom of the saucer 
is presented. 

Causes. The result of bad or severe cases of founder, 



104 DISEASES OF THE HOUSE. 

where the coffin bone is let down upon the sole, and causes 
its descent or convexity. 

Treatment. This is merely palliative and is to be done 
by placing a shoe upon the foot that will insure and pro- 
tect the sole from the ground. 

(12.) Thrush. — A diseased condition of the sensitive 
frog of the foot, and from which a stinking fluid is dis- 
charged, which is familiar to every person who is among 
horses. 

Causes. Too much moisture to the foot, as from animals 
standing in their own excreta, or from wet stabling, the 
frog becoming perverted, and deteriorating, and secreting, or 
discharging a blackish color, and otherwise nasty fluid. It 
sometimes accompanies navicular disease. 

Prevention. Dry stabling, a stall having sufficient in- 
clination or drainage to carry off the fluids. Cleaning the 
stables regularly. 

Treatment A few drops of muriatic acid forced into the 
centre of the frog once a day, for a few days. Keep the 
stable and stalls dry and clean. A few doses of the sul- 
phite of soda in half ounce doses, once a day, for a few 
days, will do good by its alterative and puritive effects 
upon the system. 

(13.) Tread. — This is, as its name indicates, a contused 
bruise inflicted on the coronet or immediately above the 
hoof by a tramp of the shoe on another foot, or even by 
another horse. Keep the wound clean, and apply the 
tincture of myrrh and aloes daily. 

(14.) Quittor. — This is a serious and painful disease 
of the foot, of the same nature as poll-evil and fistula in 
the shoulder; it is known by a large swelling around or 
above the hoof, or where the hair joins the hoof, which 
soon breaks and discharges pus. 



FOOT DISEASES. 



105 



Symptoms. Horse off his feed. Considerable excitement 
and fever. Holding the foot off the ground, and very 
painful. A swelling soon shows itself at the coronet, and 
in a few days breaks and discharges pus. After this the 
horse will resume his feed, but will not make very free 
with his foot, which will be better to-day and worse the 
next day, depending upon the discharge of pus from 
the foot. 

Causes. A prick from a nail, a bruise on the sole, a 
suppurating corn, or sometimes from a sand crack taking 
on suppurative action. 




QT7ITTOE SYBINGE. 

Treatment. The great secret of the treatment of this dis- 
ease, is to make a free opening from the bottom of the foot. 
When this is done at once, you will be greatly surprised 
to see the. swelling go away as quickly as it made its 
appearance, and if the swelling has broken, it will soon 
cease to discharge when the opening is made from below, 
or at the bottom of the foot. Having effected this purpose 
of an opening, get a small syringe and inject into the 
opening above, if there be any, and if not from the opening 
below, a mixture of the sulphate of zinc, two ounces ; rain 
water, eight ounces, once in the day. If the shoe has been 
taken off for the purpose of making the opening, have it 
put on again so as to hold some soft stopping in the sole to 



106 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

keep it soft. Cow dung is as good, if not better, for this 
purpose, than the best of costly flaxseed. Never in cases 
of this disease, apply poultices around the whole of the 
hoof, as in that case the hoof may fall off. Healthy hoofs 
can be poulticed off. Whatever poultice, it must be ap- 
plied to the sole. If no opening has been made from 
below, drop ten drops of muriatic acid into the opening 
above, once in the day, for a few days. This will destroy 
the disease. 

Founder. — (1.) Acute Founder. — Every school-boy 
is familiar with the name of founder when applied to a 
lame horse, but few horsemen ever comprehend the nature 
and seat of this affection. Founder in all its forms is 
inflammation of the laminae or leaves, which dovetail into 
each other, and bind the sensible and insensible portions of 
the foot together. Hence, it is called by some learned 
persons in diseases of horses laminitis, by adding the Greek 
word Ms. Founder is again called by some persons fever 
in the feet. However as to names, the disease is of often 
occurrence, and when left to itself, destroys many good 
horses by leaving them ever afterward sore and tender in 
front, as the horsemen have it. 

Symptoms. The horse will scarcely move; stands upon 
his heels, with fore feet and legs stretched out as far as he 
can get to throw the weight off them. Thus, to all ap- 
pearances, making the animal hollow in the breast, which 
appearance has given rise to the idea that the horse is chest 
foundered. The hind legs are brought far in under the 
belly. The head of the horse is erect and high. Fever 
and constitutional disturbance are very great. The horse 
is extremely excitable, and breathing fast and laborious. 
Altogether, the poor suffering horse is the very picture of 
distress and disease. 



FOUNDER. 107 

Causes. Giving cold water when overheated, and tired 
from overwork. A tendency in the feet to take on 
inflammatory action. The animal not in proper health or 
condition for performing heavy or fast work. 

Treatment. Place the horse in a wide and airy stall, with 
plenty of good straw for bedding to encourage the horse to 
lie down, which will relieve him very much. Indeed, so 
much is this the case, that it has been recommended that 
every foundered horse should be forcibly thrown and kept 
down, till the active stage of the disease has passed off. 
This, however, I do not advise, as the horse is excited 
enough without increasing it by throwing him from his 
feet. Rather give good bedding, and the majority of 
horses so affected will be ready and willing to lie down of 
their own accord. After the place is all fixed, and the 
horse moved into it, give him twenty drops of the tincture 
of aconite root in a cupful of cold water, poured into the 
mouth with a bottle having a strong neck. Repeat the 
dose every four hours, till six to eight doses have been 
given. Apply cold ice-water cloths to the feet. In a few 
hours, possibly, the shoes can be taken off. At first, this 
generally cannot be done, except the animal is down. 
Care should be taken in removing the shoes, so that every 
nail is made loose before an attempt is made to pull off the 
shoes. Have as little hammering on the foot as possible, 
as it will shake the great and over-sensitive frame. Let 
the cold water be kept on constantly for the first day, or until 
the active pain gives way. At leisure, the feet can be 
pared thin on the soles, so they will yield to pressure with 
the fingers. By getting the animal to lie down as soon as 
possible after he gets in ; the cold water cloths applied, and 
the aconite given ; the animal in a day or two may be 
nothing the worse from the attack. The longer the animal 



108 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

remains before these remedies are applied, the less likely is 
he to be free from its effects afterwards. Before the horse 
is again put to work, be assured he has quite recovered. 
During the treatment, give plenty of cold water to drink. 
Never give tepid water to a horse while he is sick from 
disease. Give grass or soft mashes for a day or two, but 
do not keep a sick horse too long on low feed, as debility 
and swelling of the legs and various portions of the body 
will take place. 

Remember. Do not bleed, neither from the neck, nor 
foot, nor from any place else in a disease of this kind. 

(2.) Chronic Founder. — Symptoms, Cause and Treat- 
ment will be much the same, only it will not be necessary 
to push the treatment so far. Principally depend upon 
softening the horn of the feet, paring the soles of the feet, 
and a few days' rest. The horse, for a week or two after- 
wards, should be placed in a stall having six inches of 
sawdust spread over it, and kept a little moist with water 
poured over it once in a day. When horses are recovering 
from acute founder, they also might be placed in a stall so 
prepared. Clay stalls are objectionable. 

Fractures. — This term signifies a broken bone. Frac- 
tures are the result of great force applied to the bone, as 
from kicks, falls, and accidents. 

Fractures occur in three forms. 

(1.) The simple fracture or break, either oblique, or 
slanting, or straight across the bone. 

(2.) The compound fracture, where the bones are broken 
in several places. 

(3.) The comminuted fracture, where the bones are 
broken in pieces, and the ends of the broken bones are 
seen cutting through the skin, and, possibly, severing some 



FEACTUEES. 109 

of the blood vessels, causing, in many cases, death from 
loss of blood. 

The first, or simple fracture, is the only variety that 
calls for much notice, as the other forms of fracture, when 
occurring in horses, are beyond remedy. Simple fracture 
of the following named bones may, with care, be in a great 
measure cured, and the animal be made useful for many 
purposes; as, for instance, it would be obviously wrong 
to have a valuable mare destroyed, because of simple 
fracture "of one of many bones, as she would be useful for 
breeding purposes, if not for the farm or the road. 

Fracture of the bones of the leg anywhere from the 
elbow down, except it may be the knee joint, can readily, 
with a little care and attention, be secured in its place, and 
the animal be made useful. So also the hind legs from 
the hock down to the foot. Fractures of the ribs usually 
get well of themselves, because they are always kept in 
place. So also of the haunch bone. Indeed, simple frac- 
tures of most any of the long bones will unite of their own 
accord, if the bones are put and kept in their place by 
proper fixings. 

Symptoms. The symptoms of fracture of the long bones 
of the legs are seen at once by the looseness of the leg, the 
horse not having the power to move it. The leg can be 
turned in any direction. The horse is in great pain, 
excitement, sweating, etc. If there are bones pointing 
through the skin, the horse had better be shot. 

Treatment. Place the horse, if in summer season, in the 
field, and in winter in the barn-yard, where there is not 
much straw to prevent the foot being carried without 
interruption. 

Then give twenty-five drops of the tincture of aconite 
root every five hours, for the first twenty-four hours, to 



110 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

relieve pain, excitement, and fever. Take hold of the 
broken leg carefully, and place it in a position as near like 
the other leg as possible, not only in shape, but in actual 
length by measurement, for it is the neglect of this that 
some legs are left shorter and some longer after fractures. 
The whole position of the leg being got at, apply a good 
coating of tar to the leg, around, above, and below the 
point of fracture. Then wrap the whole leg in oakum, 
coarse tow, or carded cotton. Over this, place broad pieces 
of boards, like shingles, on the sides and front of the leg, 
and fill all unevenness with the tow or cotton, so the splint 
or boards will lay flat on the leg. Secure the whole by 
careful tying with broad strings or soft cords. The great 
secret in the successful treatment of simple fractures of the 
bones of the legs, is the fixing of the leg, so it cannot move 
until they have united. Feed the horse well, and see 
every day that the splints on the legs are not loose. Never 
sling a horse from his feet in cases of fracture, for it will 
be regretted. If the horse is to be kept in a stall, make a 
hole in the floor of the stall, underneath the foot of the 
broken leg, so that he can stand with the leg at full length. 
Bear in mind, no horse will put his foot to the ground till 
he is able to do so ; therefore, leave everything to the 
broken-legged, except the matter of securing the broken 
bones in their place. And by giving him his feed, he may 
be safely left to himself, and nature will do the rest for 
him. 

Fracture of the Hip or Pelvis. — Symptoms. The 
horse is extremely down in one of the hips, with a peculiar 
loose motion of the hind leg, almost giving way every step 
the horse makes. There are no diseases this can be 
mistaken for in the hind leg or hip. This fracture is pro- 
duced in a moment; and even whilst the horse is trotting, 



FRACTURES. Ill 

he will stop all at once as if he were shot. Fracture of the 
hip, I say hip — so that the unprofessional reader will better 
understand — but it is the bone of the pelvis. The mere 
name will not amount to much, for the treatment is : let it 
alone, and it will get well in three months of itself without 
any interference from medicine or art. Turn the horse out 
for a few months, either in pasture or in the barn-yard, 
and give him plenty to eat. 

Fracture of the ribs will require no treatment, except it 
may be a few days' rest. Sometimes a swelling will be 
seen on the side of a horse having a broken rib, in a few 
days after the accident. It may form an abscess ; if so, 
have it opened to let out the matter ; and if it should not 
become soft and hold matter, let it alone, as it will do little 
harm ; or, make the application for a few times, say once a 
week for three weeks, of the ointment of iodine. (See 
Prescriptions and Medicines.) 

Fractures of the simple kind take place in various 
parts of the body, and when such is the case, and they do 
not interfere with any action or function of the body, they 
can be assisted only in so far as bandage and splint are 
concerned, so as to secure the ends in proper position. 
This will require some ingenuity, and cannot be described, 
as a bone is not always broken at one place, nor is it 
always of one set kind of break. The means will on these 
occasions have to meet the ends required of them in the 
best way possible. Sometimes pieces of broken bone will 
have to be taken out, where the bone has become detached. 
If this occur in the bones of the leg, of course the horse 
had better be shot. Where small pieces of bone become 
loose, it is usually in some of the flat bones, as the 
shoulder blade and lower jaw bone, from kicks from 
other horses. 



112 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

Fractures of the teeth take place often, and where they 
are very loose in the head, they had better be taken out 
altogether, and rasp the sharp points of the broken ones 
with a file or rasp, to prevent cutting the mouth when the 
horse is chewing. 

Fungi as a Cause of Disease. — Much has been said 

and written of late years of minute fungi being the cause 
of diseases. Dr. Lassaure has made experiments with 
pencellum, etc., and concludes from them that fungus is 
not a cause, but an accidental presence. In contradition 
of Hallier, and I might truthfully say of many other per- 
sons, it has been shown that nothing is to be gained in the 
study of the causes of disease by cultivating microscopic 
fungi, and it cannot be regarded as a contagious element 
until we have succeeded in producing disease from art. 

Frost Bites. — The results of frost bites may be called 
chilblains, which again give rise to extreme swellings of the 
heels and back parts of the hind legs, until finally the skin 
gives way, terminating in sores and ulcers that may at once 
be taken for scratches. The sores are deeper in such cases 
than in scratches or greasy leg, but closely resemble 
Phagadena, (which, see.) In the worst cases we have seen, 
the skin and flesh shoughed, followed by gangrene or 
mortification of the leg, and death of the horse from the 
poison thus produced and absorbed. We have seen several 
cases of frost bites in different stages and severities, and 
which, in all cases, was the result of broken and imperfect 
doors facing the northern exposure, and behind which 
stood the hind legs and heels of the horse. 

Treatment. If the legs be found, on oyening the stable, 
to be swollen and painful, rub the parts with snow or ice- 
cold water, then follow gradually with warm water, a 



GASTRITIS MUCOSA. 113 

degree or two above freezing; and when warmth is re- 
stored, bathe with weak spirits. When the legs and heels 
break into sores and ulcers, apply, twice daily, carbolic acid 
(in crpstals), four drachms; olive oil, four ounces. Mix. 

Gangrene. — This is a name applied to, or is synonymous 
with, mortification or death of a part, and is characterized 
by a livid or black color. Gangrene is attended, or is ush- 
ered in, by a sudden giving way of pain, which has often been 
mistaken for recovery. When gangrene of an outward or 
external part takes place, there is a change in the condition 
of the part, it assumes a different aspect, the swelling sub- 
sides, and upon touching the part a crackling sound is 
produced, owing to the evolution of gas. 

Gastritis Mucosa. — This is a new name to many 
persons, even well informed in diseases of horses, notwith- 
standing it is a very common one in the spring of the year, 
assuming always an epizootic form, and being closely allied 
to the epizootic catarrh, sometimes called typhoid influenza. 
(See Influenza.) The chief difference in the symptoms 
between the two diseases being the absence of a cough, 
which is always observed in influenza. The one disease 
attacking the lining membrane of the windpipe; the 
the other, the mucous membrane of the stomach and bowels, 
or in other words, the digestive organs, more than 
the respiratory. Gastritis Mucosa is a fatal disease, if 
treated by low diet, bleeding, blistering and physicking, 
because it always assumes a low standard of vitality, or 
great weakness. Hence the horse so affected, and so treated, 
has no chance for his life, whatever. 

Symptoms. As before stated, the horse has no cough and 
the breathing is not disturbed. The breath and mouth is 
not hot nor dry, but often the mouth is slimy, and to such 

8 



114 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

an extent that it looks as if the horse were salivated. 
The legs soon swell, or become rounded, or filled as 
they are often called. The swellings are not inflamma- 
tory, nor painful; they contain lymph, or plastic mat- 
ter from the blood, which disappears as it came, when the 
strength of the horse gets up again, and the disease sub- 
sides. The appetite is entirely suspended from the com- 
mencement of the disease. There is one of the many 
symptoms, which is never absent in this disease, and is 
very characteristic of its name and seat, and this symptom 
is that the fceces or dung is small, or in pellets, and covered 
with slime and portions of the mucous membrane of the 
stomach and bowels, or what the stable-man calls " very 
feverish." The prominent symptom of this disease is 
great weakness, and this is the case, almost from the first 
moment of the attack. 

Causes. The cause of this as well as of all epizootic 
diseases, is involved in not a little obscurity, and to get out 
of this state of ignorance, and uncertainty as to the cause, 
we are graciously pleased to call it atmospheric. This 
atmospheric influence, may be either electric, a poison, or 
a chemical element, capable of altering or changing the 
various parts or portions of the body most exposed to its 
subtle influences. However, this disease, as before stated, 
is peculiar to the spring of the year, commencing as 
the hermetically sealed earth begins to open its pores to 
the rain and sunshine of spring. May there not be dele- 
terious emanations from the earth, or at least after great 
frost or snow, is there not during the process of thawing a 
colder air or gas given forth from the thawing process, than 
the animal is breathing a few feet higher up from the 
ground? This was one of the points entering into the 
celebrated controversy between myself and the distin- 



GASTRITIS MUCOSA. 115 

guished Professor R. E. Rogers, of the University of 
Pennsylvania, on the salt and slush question, a few years 
ago, whether it was or was not injurious to the health of 
man or horse to sprinkle salt upon the tracks to thaw the 
snow from them. If my argument did not prevent further 
use of the salt upon the track, it did some good in making 
it obligatory upon the railway companies to keep allgutters 
and inlets clear, to allow the slush to escape at once from 
the street. So I think, it is clearly established, that the 
cold emanating from the soil, during the process of thawing 
or breaking up of winter, is a great and exciting cause, 
not only of this disease, but of many others in both man 
and beast, and which have hitherto been called atmospheric. 
And in connection with this condition, we have in horses, 
at least, a want of their usual protection, for with the 
warm sun of spring, the animal throws oft his hairy coat, 
thus as it were unnecessarily exposing himself to these 
insidious causes of disease. 

Treatment. When cases of this and other diseases of the 
same type (gastritis mucosa) first came under my care, I 
treated upon different principles and with different medi- 
cines than what is here recommended. I look back with 
extreme dissatisfaction on the false doctrines and false 
teachings of the books and the schools which have led 
many inquiring minds astray since their day of teaching 
commenced. The treatment now recommended is sound, 
scientific and successful, and in a very short time the horse 
will beat work again, as if nothing had been amiss. The 
first day of the disease, give, every four hours, twenty drops 
of the tincture of aconite rootin a little cold water; nextday 
give the tincture of nux vomica in fifteen drops every four 
hours, in the same way, till the horse is well, which usually 
will be about the sixth or seventh day, and sometimes even 



116 . DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

sooner. If, however, the case does not improve, and the 
appetite is not good, give powdered carbonate of ammonia 
and gentian root, each three drachms to a dose, morning, 
noon and night, in addition to the tincture of mix vomica. 
These medicines will have to be mixed with cold water, 
and the horse drenched out of a strong-necked bottle or ox's 
horn cut slanting at the mouth. Keep the ammonia in a 
bottle tightly corked till it is used, as it loses its strength 
by exposure to the air. Let the horse have as much cold 
water to drink as he wants ; and for this purpose a 
bucketful should be kept before him. Pure air and good, 
ventilation should be insured to all sick horses. Green, or 
soft feed should be given from the first day, if the horse 
will eat it. Green feed all the time of sickness will be of 
advantage, but oats will have to be given in addition, to 
support the strength and vital powers of the system, to 
enable him to throw oif the effects of the disease. Such, 
then, is the manner of curing a disease which has destroyed 
many horses, even when treated by men calling themselves 
veterinary surgeons, or least horse doctors. (See Influ- 
enza and Rheumatism.) 

Glanders. — The following synopsis of a lecture deliv- 
ered by Dr. McClure published in the Evening Bulletin 
will answer for the history and nature of the disease 
called glanders. The treatment will be made more plain 
for non-professional readers. 

Dr. Robert McClure, Veterinary Surgeon, delivered a 
very interesting lecture at the Veterinary College. 
His subject was "Glanders in Horses." He said : Glanders 
is a disease dating from the time of Xenophon, or four 
hundred years before Christ, and we are assured by Hippo- 
crates, (ruler of the horse,) that confirmed glanders was in- 
curable, and that it was then known by the name Proflu- 



GLANDEES. H7 

vium Atticuni. Veterinary surgeons recognize two varie- 
ties of Equinia in the horse, viz. : Equinia mitis, contract- 
ed from horses with greasy heels (Paronychia Equi), and 
Equinia Glandulosa, a dangerous disease, and readily com- 
municated to man. Glanders is unknown at the tropics 
and at the poles, and is not seen where struma is not a dis- 
ease of the people. It is a domestic disease. The assigna- 
ble causes are many, among which may be enumerated 
starvation, filth and debilitating diseases, as strangles, 
catarrh and lung-fever, or, indeed, any disease capable of 
generating pus ; and this pus being absorbed into the general 
circulation, thus forming a Ferment, a Zumin, or a Leaven, 
as the Bible has it, within the blood, the effort of na- 
ture to get rid of this offending matter is seen in the 
ulcerations of the lining membranes of the nose. There- 
cent experiments of Professor Giovanni Polli, of Milan, 
seems to corroborate this view, as he has produced glanders 
and other Zymotic diseases in seventy dogs, by injecting 
into their blood in some cases fetid bullock's blood, pus, 
and glandered products, and neutralizing the ferment so set 
up by the administration of an alkaline sulphite — a new 
intero-chemical doctrine — on the principle of arresting the 
vinous fermentation set up in a vessel of cider by add- 
ing to it a preparation of lime. The experiments of this 
distinguished professor enable the veterinary surgeon to 
extend his usefulness, and the domestic physician to snatch 
many a useful life from an early grave. How many brave 
men have stood the storm of battle in the late war — were 
admitted to the hospital with perhaps a shattered bone — 
amputation was performed, the case did well for few days. 
The kind-hearted surgeon saw a change for the worse ; ap- 
petite gone, the rigor and chill supervened till it was too 
plainly seen that the pus from the stump had been absorbed 



118 DISEASES OP THE HORSE. 

into the blood of the unfortunate man; fermentation was set 
up, and death staring him in the face, there was no power to 
save. The discovery of a ferment and its antidote have 
changed the scene from death to that of life. So, likewise, 
with veterinary surgeons, however ignorant and slow some 
of them are to see and understand, it will enable them to 
preserve the life of many a useful animal to its owner, 
thus adding very materially to the happiness and prosperi- 
ty of this great and prosperous people. 

Glanders are recognized by ulceration of the lining 
membrane of the nose, or the formation of pustules, and 
commonly situated in the septum nasi. These pustules 
soon ulcerate and discharge pus of a greenish color, rapidly 
drying up when spread over the nostrils, and sinking in 
water, owing, as is supposed, to it containing no oil or pus 
cells, but principally albumen. There is one phenomenon 
never absent in this disease, and that is the enlarged gland 
under the jaw ; hence,. the common name of the disease — 
glanders. There are, said the lecturer, many wrong ideas 
entertained, not only in regard to the contagious nature of 
the disease, but also in regard to its incurability and even 
fatality. Glanders is no more contagious than the heavy, 
stinking discharge from the nose of some horses with 
catarrh, as the pus of an abscess on the nose of a horse 
with a cold, when introduced into the blood of healthy 
animals, will produce a ferment — which explains the rea- 
son why a cold in horses terminates in glanders ; it is the 
absorption of the pus. This will be readily understood, 
when it is said the horse is running or bordering on glan- 
ders. Horses affected with chronic glanders will live and 
work for years, which fact, being well known, has caused 
dissatisfaction with local laws, prohibiting the use of 
glandered horses. 



GLANDERS. 119 

Fresh specimens of sections of the kings, nose, and other 
portions taken from a glandered animal, were placed at the 
disposal of the lecturer for the purpose of illustrating to 
the audience, showing the morbid changes effected by the 
disease. At the close of the lecture, the doctor showed the 
manner of generating nascent hydrogen for the purpose of 
detecting the presence of the alkaline sulphite in the secre- 
tions of horses, under its effects, for the purpose of the cure 
of glanders. Before touching upon the plan of treatment, 
the reader is referred to the article Farcy. 

Treatment. The proposition of restoration in a disease of 
this kind, is the destruction of the ferment, the removal of 
its products or effects, and the improvement of the bad 
habit of body by enriching the blood. 

To remove or neutralize the ferment or poison, give one- 
half to one ounce doses of the sulphite of soda at night, in 
cut feed, for several weeks, and five grains of the powdered 
Spanish fly along with it, which will act not only as a 
powerful tonic, but as an agent whereby the product of the 
disease will be removed from the body of the animal by 
the kidneys. This treatment will not interfere with the 
other medicine, which is powdered gentian root, three 
drachms ; powdered sulphate of copper, two drachms. 
Mix these articles, and give the whole for a dose, and give 
one dose morning and mid-day. 

These medicines will have to be continued for a long 
time, not only to cure the disease, but to improve the health. 
The horse must be well and highly fed, and removed from 
other horses while the treatment is going on. Change the 
feed often, so as to get all the elements that the blood re- 
quires, and to keep up the appetite, for if the appetite fails, 
no cure can be made. 

Remember. Glanders associated with tubercles of the 



120 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

lungs cannot be cured, and it then partakes rather of the 
nature of consumption than of simple glanders without 
tubercles, which is easily cured. 

Glass Eye. — (See Eye Diseases.) 
' Gleet. — (Nasal.) This term is used to denote a thin, 
transparent discharge from the nose in cases of coryza, and 
as a sequel to catarrh and cold in old and debilitated horses. 
Whilst there are no ulcers on the lining membrane of the 
nose, or no enlargement of gland under the jaw, the case 
may be dismissed as simple gleet, which can be readily 
cured by good feeding and a few tonic powders, such as 
powdered sulphate of copper three ounces ; powdered gen- 
tian root, four ounces ; powdered Spanish fly, one drachm. 
Mix, and divide into twelve powders, and give one powder 
once in the twenty-four hours. These powders will last 
two weeks, and can be renewed if necessary. Give the 
powders in large bulk or cut feed, so as to protect the coat 
of the stomach from the effects of the Spanish fly. 

Granulation. — This means the little red portions of 
flesh, which grow in and fill up holes made by wounds. 
Sometimes these grow too fast ; then they are unhealthy, 
being soft, and grow beyond the edges of the wound. To 
prevent this, sprinkle a little powdered bluestone, or a 
little sulphate of zinc, and the wound will soon heal level 
with the surrounding surface. 

Gravel in the Foot, — This name conveys an impres- 
sion that sand or gravel has got into the foot, which is 
often the case from cracks or other openings in the foot, 
whether from above or below. Wash out the sand, if 
possible ; if not, remove some of the horn, and wash out 
well, and fill up the hole by shoemaker's wax applied hot, 
and smoothed over by the hand previously wet, so the 



GREASE. 121 

warm wax will not stick to it. If the opening be in the 
sole, shoe with leather soles, tar and cotton, until the hole 
has grown out or closed up. 

Grease. — this is a disease of the heels and legs of 
horses, characterized by an unsightly condition of the parts. 
The whole being the result of suppurative inflammatory 
action of the skin and heels of the hind legs, usually, but 
sometimes of the fore ones ; is more common in coarse-bred 
western horses, and heavy breeds, than in well or fine- 
bred horses. 

Cause. Sudden changes of the temperature of the earth, 
whether from heat to cold, or from wet to dry. This dis- 
ease always follows sloppy or wet streets, stables or lands, 
producing a relaxed condition of the parts from too much 
moisture. 

Treatment. Keep the legs clean and dry, and apply a 
mixture to the heels twice in the twenty -four hours : Water, 
one pint ; sulphuric acid, two drachms; corrosive chloride 
of mercury, one drachm. Mix, and shake up before using. 
Many cases are readily cured, by simply keeping the heels 
clean, and anointing with glycerine, or lard, having no salt 
in it. It must be confessed by everybody who has had 
any experience at all in the treatment of this disease, that 
there is uncertainty of an early cure ; some cases will be 
cured in a short time, and in others it would seem that the 
discharge would never dry up and be healed. For cases 
that prove obstinate, the following plan will effect a cure, 
when other vaunted remedies have failed : Take one box 
of concentrated lie, and dissolve it in two quarts of water, 
and bottle up for use when wanted, in the following way: 
Pour a wine-glassful of the solution of lye into a small 
bucket of cold water, and wash and bathe the heels and 
legs for half an hour, morning and night. A great change 



122 DISEASES OP THE HOESE. 

for the better will be seen in a day or two. This wash 
seems to have the power of relaxing and softening the skin, 
and at the same time causes the legs to sweat greatly. 
Dry them as often after the bathing as you like, there will 
pour out great quantities of moisture from the skin as soon 
as you have done. 

Shot of Grease. — This is a different disease from 
the one described, from the fact that it attacks only one 
leg, and that one of the hind ones, and comes on in a night, 
without any preceding symptoms whatever, and hence it is 
called a shot of grease. There is no cracking of the skin 
of the heels or legs, but it remains whole and unbroken. 

Cause. Robust stamina, or too fat and full of flesh, and 
to get rid of this superfluity, plastic lymph is thrown into 
one of the hind legs, which causes welling of the leg to an 
enormous size. If this material were thrown from the 
blood into one of the fore legs, where the nearness to the 
heart increases the activity of the capillary circulation, 
matter would not remain as it does in the hind legs, which 
are so far from the centre of circulation. This disease is 
not unlike the phlegmassia dolens, or milk leg in the 
human family. 

Treatment. If the disease be observed early or before the 
leg becomes hard, take about one quart of blood from the 
neck, and give slop feed, that is, bran with plenty of water 
in it. Also, give one ounce doses of the sulphite of soda 
once in the day, for a few days, and bathe the legs three 
times in the day with the same solution of concentrated lye, 
as is recommended in grease, (which see.) If the swelling 
does not lessen in two days after these various agents have 
been employed, then incisions of an inch in length, through 
the skin, will have to be made for the purpose of letting out 
the imprisoned fluid before the arteries of the legs have 



GUNSHOT WOUNDS. 123 

become 'plugged or filled up, which constitute the thick or 
fat leg so often seen in horses in large cities. In addition, 
the leg will have to be bandaged pretty tightly with a 
broad bandage, and be still bathed three times in the day 
with the solution of concentrated lye. Many good horses 
have been rendered of little value from want of a knowl- 
edge of this disease and its proper treatment. 

Gripes. — This name is sometimes applied to colic, 
(which see.) 

Grogginess. — A term meant to convey the idea that 
the horse does not travel very steady in front, from con- 
tracted or bent legs at the knee, or from soreness in the feet 
from a previous attack of founder in the feet, (which see.) 

Grunter. — This name is applied to horses that give 
forth a grunting noise. Any condition giving rise to 
wheezing, roaring, whistling, piping, and rattling, will, 
with slight modification, produce a grunter. 

Observe. If the collar is not too tight on the neck, in- 
terfering with the free passage of air in and out of the 
windpipe. 

Causes. Generally from some thickening of the glands 
of the neck, or of the windpipe — the effects of bronchitis 
or distemper, not treated, or improperly treated, in not 
supporting the strength, whereby all thickenings are taken 
up, or reduced and even prevented. 

Gullet, Obstructions in the. — (See Choking.) 

Gunshot Wound. — This is, excepting in times of war, 
a rare occurrence, and the treatment consists in extracting 
the bullet, and healing the wound as for an ordinary 
sore. The bullet is extracted by an instrument represented 
in the accompanying cut, and is called Bullet Forceps. 



124 



DISEASES OF THE BOBSB. 



The instrument is represented as grasping the bullet, show- 
ing, also, the way in which it is introduced to extract the ball. 





BUI/LET FOECEPS OF DIFFERENT PATTERNS. 

Gutta Serena. — (See Eye Diseases.) 

Heart, Diseases of the. — Of diseases of the heart 
little need be said, and as little can be done in the way of 
cure : so all I propose under this head is merely to name a 



HEART. 125 

few of the altered conditions of the heart, which are all 
embraced in the sweeping term " Heart Disease." 

(1.) Enlargement of the heart. 

(2.) Wasting or shrinking of the heart. 

(3.) Foreign bodies in the heart. 

(4.) Fatty degeneration of the heart. 

(5.) Inflammation of the heart. 

(6.) Ossification of the heart. 

Such, then, are some of the distinctions made, when 
speaking of diseases of the heart. And as an illustration 
of what a horse with heart disease can do, and what can 
be, and is sometimes done with such an animal so affected, 
I reproduce articles from the Scottish Farmer, which may 
be of interest to some of our American farmers. 

" If one of the busy paternity who delight in a deal, on 
a dark Wednesday night, in the grass market, were asked 
what sort of horse he wished to procure, as a safe invest- 
ment for his ill-gathered coin, he would certainly prefer a 
good-looking Clydesdale, sound in limb; not a roarer, but 
with a mysterious screw loose, which few, including the 
horse-coper himself, can discover. Such an animal has 
been turned over many and many a time within the last 
three weeks, in or near Edinburgh." 

Our readers will remember a second article on heart 
disease, in which three cases were specially mentioned, and 
one amongst them, under " observation." "A full-sized, 
active gray mare, apparently fit for a goods van, having 
been treated for a cold by a blacksmith, proved to be 
suffering from dilation of the right side of the heart. She 
was looked upon with interest by a strong muster of stu- 
dents, who hoped to see further into matters, and proposed 
to buy the mare, to be destroyed, as the only humane 
method of treating her. But, as we are informed, a friend, 



126 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

seeing the animal with swelled legs only, thought he could 
cure the case, and urged that she should be sent to his farm 
where he would put her to the plough. In opposition to 
professional advice, this was agreed upon, and the students 
were disappointed in getting the prize. Not many days 
elapsed before the farmer found that he had undertaken a 
hard task, in attempting to cure the swelled legs. Seven 
dollars and a half were realized for this likely-looking 
animal, and we believe a smith, near Edinburgh, was the 
purchaser. Here the trickery commenced, and a simple 
countryman greedily closed a bargain which enriched the 
smith by forty-two dollars and fifty cents. The animal's 
wind was, however, wrong, and cart- work would not suit 
her; so that, in despair, an exchange was effected with 
some of the ingenious dealers in horse-flesh in this town. 
Exchange followed exchange, and it proved very trouble- 
some to trace the animal, until at last, in broad day-light 
she fell, by the auctioneer's hammer, to the lot of a man 
from Glasgow side." 

Many a twenty dollar note can be made out of a poor 
animal thus knocked from hand to hand, until, in the 
course of nature, it drops dead in harness. The history of 
the case is as interesting as would have been the post 
mortem to the students; and it will be found that one of 
the most remarkable features in such cases, is the length 
of time that animals retain a selling appearance, though 
absolutely unfit for any exertion. 

Heaves. — This is a term in frequent use, but not so 
well understood as it ought to be, seeing its importance as 
to the proper value of an animal. Heaves, then, may be 
defined as a difficulty in breathing, whereby the value and 
usefulness of a horse is seriously impaired. There is 
every degree of intensity to be seen in this disease. Some 



HEAVES. 127 

animals are so seriously affected, that it is hard to look at 
the terrible efforts made in the act of respiration. The 
deep and not suffered-to-be-completed respiration tells the 
tale of great asthmatic effort and oppression. In others, 
it is so slight that only experts can observe it; not from 
the quickness of breathing, nor yet from its depth, but 
from a peculiar double beat or hitch, differing from all 
other varieties of breathing, either of fever, inflammation, 
or debility. 

Cause. Debility of the parvagum nerve ; for if this 
nerve is divided or cut in its course, heaves, or broken 
wind, is set up at once. The real condition of this nerve, 
which gives rise to heaves, is not at present known ; and 
it is difficult, in many cases, to trace and distingush any 
alteration of the nerves, as they may retain their color, yet 
their influence may be greatly impaired. For two reasons 
I have said debility. First, because, if it was cut, or had 
entirely lost its influence, the animal would die in forty- 
eight hours. Second, because, by the administration of 
powerful tonics, the symptoms of the disease are greatly 
relieved, and in some cases they entirely disappear. 

Treatment. Horse-dealers, in order to allay the symp- 
toms, that is, the peculiar breathing, give an ounce each, 
of powdered sulphate of iron, gentian and ginger root. It 
is the largeness of the dose that is given, and repeated for 
a few days, that imparts a tonicity to the nerve. Although 
I have here spoken of this matter, I do not wish to be 
understood as advocating such treatment, nor as attempt- 
ing to cheat or deceive any one ; but the large dose of iron 
meets my decided disapproval, as being highly injurious to 
the horse — although the giving of round or spherical shot, 
as is practiced in England, is much worse. The treat- 
ment, whatever that may be, to do good permanently, 



128 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

must be by a gradual and progressive improvement. 
Five grain doses of arsenic, given once in the twenty-four 
hours for two weeks ; then, after a week's intermission, 
commencing as before, will soon cure many cases. Give 
the animal feed in small bulk. Use as little hay, or rough 
feed, in large bulk, as possible. Improve the condition 
of the horse by every way or means, and you will relieve 
the animal. 

Heat. — General heat of the skin indicates fever ; local 
heat, inflammation. 

Hepatic Diseases. — (See Liver, Inflammation of the.) 

Hernia, — This is a name given to ruptures, (see Rup- 
tures.) 

Herpes. — A name used in skin diseases, (see Mange 
and Skin Diseases.) 

Hereditary Diseases. — No one, of any observation, 
can deny that hereditary influence exists in the production 
of disease. This influence must not, in the production of 
disease, be considered as invariably reliable. The fact of 
horses or mares having a disease, is no reason why their 
young will have the same disease, also. It was through 
change or alteration of structure, action or function, that 
existed in either of the parents, that disease fastened upon 
them, and these same forms which existed in them are 
likely to be transmitted to the offspring, thus carrying the 
various formations of structure, which will ultimately, in 
all probability, produce the same disease. A great num- 
ber of the affections, which are usually styled hereditary, 
do not make their appearance until years after their birth, 
because it requires time and work to develop them. Few 
persons would expect a horse with cow hock, (which see,) 
to become curbed without work, as a secondary cause. 



HIDE ROUND. 129 

There is one other point worthy of remark, in speaking of 
hereditary diseases, which is that many animals, after 
being poorly bred, have been badly fed and cared for ; 
whereas if good feeding and care had been bestowed upon 
them, it would have gone a long way in lessening the cer- 
tainty of developing hereditary disease in them, and their 
offspring. This is every day being illustrated in the 
family of man. There are several rules laid down to be 
observed as measures to prevent and modify conditions 
which result in producing diseases of hereditary predis- 
position. And there have been receipts found in the 
temple of .ZEsculapius, and said to be in the handwriting 
of Hippocrates himself, for the purpose of mitigating the 
hereditary conditions, which are so often seen in the hu- 
man family. Although these rules cannot, in all cases, be 
applied to animals, nevertheless much can be done. The 
better way will be to avoid breeding from diseased animals. 
So long as like begets like, so long will we have heredi- 
tary diseases among horses. 

Hide Bound. — This, properly speaking, is not a dis- 
ease, but the symptoms of a bad condition, " out of sorts," 
debility, etc. 

Treatment. Feed in large bulk, mixed feed — cut hay, 
corn meal, and bran in good proportion — with no more 
water than will keep the particles together. Give the fol- 
lowing powder in feed every night, for twelve nights: — 
Powdered sulphate of iron, three drachms; powdered gen- 
tian root, four drachms. Mix. If the animal is fat and 
yet hide bound, substitute the following, instead of that 
above recommended : Take sulphuret of antimony, three 
drachms; sulphur in flour, three drachms; sulphite of 
soda, half an ounce. Mix, and give in one dose, repeating 
9 



130 DISEASES OF THE HOESE. 

it every night for two weeks. If in the winter, use an 
extra blanket. If in the summer, give cut grass to eat. 

Hip-joint Disease. — Happily, this is a very rare dis- 
ease in horses, and does not make its appearance so soon as 
in man. It is always the result of accident or injury, and 
is a joint affection — not of the muscles, because the mass of 
muscles are so very great over the hip, that it is not an 
easy matter to sprain them. I speak of this here, because 
among horsemen it is a great bug-bear, often occuring in 
their ideas; whereas, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred 
of their so-called hip and whirl bone disease, the lameness 
will be found in the hock-joint. Why do they jump at 
the conclusion that the lameness is in the hip ? Because 
in every movement of the hock-joint, the vibration or hitch 
is more distinctly seen by the altered action of the muscles 
of the hip, as when the hock-joint moves but partially, and 
not completely, it is not so readily seen at the hock as at 
the hip. Hence, this is but the old adage, cause and effect ; 
in this case the horseman has them reversed. (See Spavin.) 

Symptoms. Lowness or falling in of the hip; a peculiar 
manner of moving, not indicating inability as is seen in 
fracture of the pelvis bone, but of great pain and difficulty ; 
not yielding or bending low down on that quarter when 
the horse takes a step. The leg appears shorter, and is 
placed, when standing, slightly under the body, and not 
doubled up, or standing upon the toe as is seen in cases of 
hock -joint disease. 

Treatment. Absolute and entire rest for a few weeks. 
The application of cold water cloths over the hip, taking 
them off at night, and applying them in the morning again. 
This will have to be kept up for a week, at least, so that 
all heat and tenderness will be removed before any irritant 



HOCK. 131 

can be used to the parts. (Never apply hot liniments to a 
part already too hot and painful.) Then apply by rubbing 
with the hand over the parts, every second day, the fol- 
lowing : Oil of turpentine, one ounce; oil of olives, two 
ounces; creosote, one ounce. Mix. Thw will not only 
act as an irritant, but as a powerful sedative to the nerves 
of the parts, causing relief from pa ; n, so that the animal 
can be made useful. 

Hock, the. — This is an important joint or part of the 
horse, and is the seat of many diseases, causing lameness. 
In the majority of hind leg lameness, the hock is the true 
situation. This fact is not apparent to the non-profes- 
sional person, as the hock, while diseased, does not swell so 
often as other portions of the body or legs when diseased. 
Bog or blood spavin and thorough-pin, a blind man can 
almost see. With these exceptions, I say, hock-joint lame- 
ness, in the majority of cases, is charged to the hip or 
somewhere else, simply because persons fail to see any pe- 
culiarity, even when pointed out to them. (See Stringhalt.) 

Sprain of the hock-joint is to be treated with cold water 
cloths, for a few days, and the application of the following, 
once every second day, for a week, with friction or rubbing : 
Oil of turpentine; oil of olives ; equal parts. Mix. This 
is a simple, cheap, and good liniment, and will answer 
every purpose. 

Rupture of the internal and external lateral or side liga- 
ments of the hock-joint is occasionally seen, and is caused 
by a violent slip. The rupture is at once recognized by 
the loss of power of the horse over the leg below the joint ; 
but can stand on the leg, as if it were sound, and there is 
little or no swelling — which peculiarities serve to show 
the difference between a broken bone of the leg and the 
ruptured ligaments of a joint. (See Ligaments.) The 



132 DISEASES OF THE HOESE. 

cure is accomplished by absolute and entire rest, with oc- 
casional friction with the turpentine liniment, just men- 
tioned above. Be assured of the complete union of the 
ligaments — which will have taken place when the horse 
can bend and properly use the leg — before exercise or 
work be exacted. 

Hooks in the Eyes. — This is a term in use by coun- 
try folks when referring to the peculiar action of the mem- 
brana nictatans in cases of locked-javv, (which see.) Many 
persons have advised that these useful membranes should 
be cut out. Nothing could be further wrong than this; 
for it is merely the effect of a cause. Rather remove the 
cause, or cure the locked-jaw and the protruding of the hook 
or horns will cease. This is the only true plan to adopt. 

Horse, Natural History of the. — The horse comes 

under the division vertebrata, class mammalia, tribe 
ungulata, order pachydermata, family solipeda. 

Horse Fly, — This comprehends the gad or breeze fly, 
Gasterophilus oestrus. The spotted horse fly, G. Equi. 
The red-tailed horse fly, G. hemorrhoidalis. This last fly 
deposits her eggs on the lips of the horse, and the former 
glues them to the hair of the legs. These various eggs are 
ultimately taken into the stomach, and in one year they 
have become sufficiently matured that they are thrown 
out to the outer world to get wings, and finally fly about 
and propagate their kind in the same manner as the parent 
stock. (See Worms.) 

Humanity to Animals, Hints on. — (1.) Warm the 
bit in frosty weather before putting it into the horse's mouth. 

(2.) Let the horse lick a little salt from your hands 
whenever you offer the bit. 

(3.) Never startle a horse by striking him suddenly or 



HUMANITY TO ANIMALS. 133 

unexpectedly. This caution is specially important if he 
has a blind bridle. 

(4.) Uniformly gentle treatment will secure faithful and 
steady work. Anger, severity, and sudden jerking, endan- 
ger your harness, your vehicle, and your life, besides 
permanently injuring your horse. 

(5.) Be well provided with horse-blankets, particularly 
at night. If you are waiting for passengers, while you 
look out for your own comfort by a warm fireside, or in 
thick wrappers, see that your faithful brute companion is 
also protected from the chilly air. 

(6.) Wash the inside of the collar frequently with castile 
soap suds, and when it has thoroughly dried, gently warm 
the leather and soak it with oil, so as to soften it. But do 
not allow any oil to remain on the surface of the leather, 
unabsorbed. 

(7.) If the shoulders are tender, feverish, and disposed 
to chafe, they should be well rubbed, and afterwards 
washed with salt water. This should be done after un- 
harnessing, so that the parts bathed may be dry before 
work is resumed. 

(8.) Do not be tempted by extra pay to overload your 
team. Overloading occasions blindness, spavin, splint, 
glanders, farcy, and other painful and fatal disorders, and 
thus risks the loss of your capital, besides injuring yourself 
by encouraging a cruel disposition. 

(9.) See that the harness fits easily in every part, and 
that the shoes are tight, and well put on. If there are 
chains connected with any part of the harness, let them be 
well covered with soft padded leather or fur. 

(10.) Let your tones, in addressing the horse, be always 
gentle, soothing, and pleasant. Pat him often, and en- 
courage every sign of attachment that he gives. 



134 DISEASES OP THE HORSE. 

(11.) Every truck, or other vehicle, should have a prop 
stick hung to the shafts, to relieve the burden of the load 
whenever the team is standing. 

(12.) Curry, rub, and clean WELL and thoroughly, at 
least once every day. The effect is worth half the feed. 
A dirty coat and skin, when the animal is deprived of 
exercise in pasture, and of rolliug on the grass, cannot fail 
to produce disease. 

(13.) Never use a check rein. It is a false taste that 
thinks a horse more beautiful when his head is fastened in 
an unnatural position. The bearing rein keeps a horse in 
a constant fret, makes him restless and uneasy, and often 
prevents him from recovering himself in case of a stumble 
or fall. 

(14.) Your stable should be perfectly level, or very 
slightly inclined, well lighted, well drained, well ventilated, 
and well protected from draughts, and from extremes of 
heat and cold. Keep the crib clean and free from dust, 
and keep the hay and other fodder as far from the stall as 
possible, so as to be away from the steam and breath of the 
animal. 

(15.) If you use ground feed, remember that at many of 
the mills and stores it is adulterated with marble or plaster 
of paris, or with the sweepings of canal-boats and barges. 
Such adulteration not only robs your animals of nourish- 
ment, but produces stone, and shortens life. 

(16.) If you suspect adulteration, you can sometimes 
detect it by heating a portion of the feed to a red heat, in 
an iron vessel. After the whole has been reduced to ashes, 
if they contain plaster, the ashes will soon set or harden, 
after being mixed with water to the consistency of paste. 

(17.) In hot weather, keep a wet sponge on the head of 
the horse or mule ; cool the mouth and face with wet 



HUMANITY TO ANIMALS. 135 

sponges; furnish drinking water often, and sponge the legs 
and such parts as are liable to chafe by perspiration or 
otherwise; drive slowly, and lessen the weight usually 
imposed in cooler weather; see that the harness is not un- 
nessarily cumbersome and heavy; the discomfort may be 
materially relieved by taking off the eye-blinds, which are 
useless appendages and cause much annoyance to the animal. 

(18.) Do not urge your beast beyond a walk when the 
heat is oppressive ; finally, use a head-shelter or awning, 
constructed of wire and covered with canvass, which can 
be attached to the animal's head without materially add- 
ing weight. 

(19.) In icy weather keep your animal sharp shod, 
renewing the sharpening as often as the toes become blunt. 
A few dollars expended in this way will undoubtedly save 
your horse from serious injury, and, perhaps, from losa of 
life. 

(20.) Standing on fermenting manure softens the hoof, 
produces thrush, and brings on lameness. Keep the litter 
dry and clean, and cleanse the stall thoroughly every 
morning. 

(21.) Sharp bits make the mouth tender at first, and 
afterwards callous, so that the horse becomes unmanageable. 

(22.) If your horse kicks and plunges on mounting, 
look to the stuffing of your saddle, and see if it has become 
hard and knotty with use. 

(23.) Keep your wheels well greased, and thus reduce 
the labor of drawing the load. 

(24.) Keep the feet well brushed out, and examine every 
night to see if there is any stone or dirt between the hoof 
and the shoe. Change the shoes as often as once a month. 

(25.) Disease or wounds in the feet or legs soon become 
dangerous if neglected. 



136 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

(26.) When a horse is hot and fatigued from labor, walk 
him about till cool ; groom him quite dry, first with a wisp 
of straw, and then with a brush; rub his legs well with 
the hand, to remove any strain, soothe the animal, and 
detect thorns and splinters; and give him his grain as 
soon as he is cool, dry, and willing to eat. 

(27.) On the evening before a journey give double 
feed ; on the morning of starting give only half a feed of 
grain, or a little hay ; on the road feed in small quantities 
about every two hours. 

(28.) When horses are long out at work provide them 
with nose-bags and proper food. The nose-bag should be 
leather at bottom, and of basket-work or open texture 
above. On coming home give a double feed of grain. 

(29.) Lead the horse carefully into and out of the sta- 
ble. Accustom him to stand quite still till you are seated. 
Start at a walk, and go slowly the first and the last mile. 

(30.) Never use the whip if you can help it. It will 
then always be available as a last resource. 

(31.) Be always on your guard, just feeling the mouth 
with the bit, lightly and steadily. 

(32.) If a horse shies, neither whip him nor pat him, 
but speak encouragingly, and let him come slowly towards 
the object. 

(33.) If you value your own life, the lives of others, or 
your horse, never drive fast in the dark, or in a town. 

(34.) Never add your own weight to a load that is 
already heavy enough. Get out and walk when you 
ascend a hill. If you stop on a hill, put a stone behind 
the wheel. 

(35.) Never tease or tickle the horse. 

(36.) Don't forget that the old horses, like old men, lose 
their teeth and their chewing abilities ; therefore, bruise 



Hydrophobia. 13? 

the oats and corn, and chop the hay for the old nags 
who can't get " store teeth." 

Hydrothorax. — This is a name given to water when 
it accumulates in the chest. Hence, hydro, water; and 
thorax, the chest. 

Causes. Debility from the effects of inflammation of 
some of the organs within the chest. 

Treatment. Tonics to improve the general health, and 
medicines to draw off the water by the kidneys and bowels. 
An operation is recommended by which the fluids are 
drawn from the side by means of a trocar. (See Dropsy.) 

Hydrocele.— A collection of fluid in the scrotum of 
stallions. 

Treatment. Paint the scrotum with the tincture, of ben- 
zoin or iodine. If these remedies are not successful in 
causing absorption of the water, the skin of the scrotum 
will have to be opened to let out the fluid. 

Hydronemia. — A name used when speaking of the 
blood when it contains too much water — water in the 
blood. (See Dropsy,) 

Hydrophobia. — This disease, happily, is rare — in a 
practice of thirteen years, and doing much in the treatment 
of diseases of horses, and being well acquainted with the 
practice of other persons, T can only record three cases, and 
one of these was a mule. This disease is sometimes called 
water dread and canine rabies, from the fact that it is only 
generated in the dog and feline species of animals. 

Cause in Horses. Bites of the mad dog, and sometimes 
the bite from the common cat is capable of producing the 
disease. 

Symptoms. In those cases that came under my notice, 



138 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

the symptoms were anything but like each other. In one 
animal, the propensity to bite at objects was more severe ; 
and in another, the horse would walk and look about him, 
utter a peculiar sound, and lie down and get hold of the 
heels and part of arm of the fore leg with his teeth, till 
he had them bleeding, get up again, and walk about 
without any apparent object in view. But the destructive 
impulse attributed by some authors, I think, is merely the 
fancy of an inexperienced mind in such matters. The 
symptoms of the mule differed from each of the horses, 
inasmuch as he would, at times, eat hay very ravenously, 
stop all at once, and with a peculiar sound, not like the 
bark of a dog, but of a character which cannot be 
described, lie down and have a good roll to himself; 
then he would run at any person within his reach with 
open mouth. But in no instance did any of the cases 
attempt to bite at anything not endowed with animal life. 
All of these animals were confined in enclosures from 
which they could not escape. They lived about thirty- 
six hours after the active symptoms of the disease set in. 
(See Bites of Mad Dog.) Any person having the least 
experience with horses, may observe peculiarities, at times, 
which do appear not to belong to common diseases. 

Hypertrophy. — This name means a state of certain 
organs increased in size, and decreased in power. The 
heart, kidneys, spleen, liver, and other parts of the body, 
are liable to this disease. 

Hypodermic. — Under the skin. (S e Endermic.) 

Hysteria. — This is a disease which is sometimes seen 
in mares only. 

Causes. Irritation of the uterus, or of some of it snerves. 
Symptoms. Great excitement and incapability of standing. 



INFECTION. 



139 



and it appears as if some of the bones of the back or loins 
were broken. 

Treatment. Give twenty drops of the tincture of aconite 
root every four hours, whilst the symptoms last. Build 
up the strength of the mare by the following: Sulphate 
of iron, three drachms; gentian root, three drachms. Mix, 
and give in one dose every day, for a week or ten days. 
Give good feeding. 

Caution. Unsafe to use ; will return again. 




HYPODERMIC SYRINGE. 



Indigestion. — However much man, in the sedentary 
walks of life, may be the subject of this disease, the horse 
with a task-master is comparatively free from it. Cases 
do occur, occasionally, in our large cities, where in too 
many cases the horse is left standing in the stable, twenty 
out of the twenty-four hours. Idleness begets indigestion, 
and indigestion begets crib-biting, or wind-sucking, and 
between them the poor horse loses flesh, condition and 
spirit. (See Crib- biting.) 

Treatment. Send the horse to pasture, and when he 
returns give him regular feed, and regular work to pre- 
vent a return of it. 

Infection. — (See Contagion.) 



140 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

Inflammation. — Inflammation of the various portions 
or parts of the body will be found treated of under the 
name of the organ or part affected. 

Influenza. — This is a name which is properly applied 
to epizootic catarrh of frequent occurrence in the spring 
of the year. Indeed, it is very rare that we see a cold 
run its course as such, without some complication of one 
kind or another. 

Symptoms. A chill or shivering fit, succeeded by 
increased heat of the body, with fever and irritation. 
Loss of appetite, cough, discharge of mucus from the 
nose, watering of the eyes, great prostration of strength, 
followed in a day or two with swellings of the legs, and 
in bad cases, of the belly, breast, and in males, of the 
sheath ; such is a true and succinct account of the 
symptoms of this disease. The symptoms will vary, as 
in other diseases, with the intensity of the affection. 

Causes. A subtle poison in the air, sudden changes in 
the dryness or moisture of the earth's surface, easterly 
winds, cold accompanied with dampness in the air. These 
are conditions which too often accompany or precede influ- 
enza, which differs from an attack of common cold, chiefly 
in the severity of its effect, causing more fever and greater 
debility. In England it was first observed in 1819, and 
again in 1832, and more or less ever since. In the United 
States it first manifested itself in 1856, and is still seen 
every spring and fall with symptoms more or less severe. 

Treatment. The mortality in this disease is great, 
when treated according to the books which our publishers 
frequently issue — Old English books, with new dresses cut 
to the fashion. Bear this in mind, when undertaking the 
treatment of a disease of this kind, that one step wrongly 
taken can never be recalled. Place the horse in a cool 



INJECTIONS. 141 

(not cold) and airy place, put a light covering upon him, 
and give him twenty drops of the tincture of aconite root 
in a little cold water, every four hours, till five doses are 
given. Place plenty of cold water before the horse so that 
he can drink as much as he wants. When the aconite has 
been all given, commence with fifteen-drop doses of the 
tincture of mix vomica, which repeat every four hours, 
continuing it for a few days, and if the animal improves, 
and the appetite returns, nothing more in the way of 
medicine need be given. Recovery being slow and the 
appetite poor, give the following powders, morning, noon 
and night : Powdered carbonate of ammonia, three ounces; 
powdered gentian root, two ounces ; powdered pimenta 
berries, two ounces ; mix, and divide into twelve powders, 
and give them mixed in a little cold water, and drench the 
horse out of a strong-mouthed bottle. The powders will 
have to be wrapped well, so as to keep them from the air, 
and prevent the loss of their strength. Twenty drops of 
commercial sulphuric acid may be given occasionally, in 
half a bucket of cold water, which the horse will readily 
drink. ' Do not apply blisters or anything to the throat, as 
is too often done; they can do no good, but positively 
much harm. Be assured the animal has fully recovered 
its strength before putting to work. If treated in the 
manner described, in from five to six days the horse will 
be almost well again. (See Gastritis Mucosa, and Rheuma- 
tism.) 

Injections. — These are composed of warm water, soap, 
and a handful of table-salt; the water about luke-warm. 
The usual way to give injections, is by means of a large 
syringe, capable of holding a quart of the fluid. The 
diseases which call for injections, are the various varieties 
of colic. Few medicines will cure colic without the aid of 



142 



DISEASES OF THE HOESE. 



injections, whereas colic, in very many cases, can be 
readily cured by the injection alone. Therefore, never put 
confidence in any person who undertakes to cure colic, 
without injections of warm water, soap and salt. 

Instruments. — The various cuts of instruments, rep- 
resented throughout the book, explain themselves. The 
few here given, may be explained as follows : 




No. 1. 



Above are shown two patterns of the ecraseur manu- 
factured in Philadelphia for use in the University of 
Pennsylvania, veterinary department. 




No. 2. 



This is a very good representation of a sim- 
ilar instrument which is also manufactured in 



INSTEUMENTS. 



143 



Philadelphia. The ecrasseur is now extensively and suc- 
cessfully used for castrating colts, and for the removal of 
tumors. The object of using this instrument is, that no 
bleeding follows its use. (See Castration.) 

No. 3 is a spring lancet, and was 
invented by a Mr. Weiss, of London, 
for the use of farmers who could not 
use its more surgical prototype, the 
lancet. This was at a time when 
bleeding was thought to be the great 
panacea for all the ills and aches to 
which man and beast is heir. 






No. 4. 



No. 5. 



No. 4 is a small syringe, used for injecting medicines 
into the cavities of tumors, to destroy their diseased 
walls. 

No. 5 is a carved trocar and canula, and is used for 
piercing dropsical swellings and tumors, to run off the 
fluid. The trocar is drawn out after the parts have been 



144 DISEASES OF THE HOESE. 

pierced, and the canula remains as a tube, whereby the 
water escapes. 

No. 6 is a straight trocar with canula, and is used in 
different sizes and for various purposes. Its first and 
most important use is for piercing the rumen of cows and 
oxen when attacked with hoven. Second, it is used occa- 
sionally for piercing the horse, in cases of flatulent colic, 
and in drawing off the fluid or serum accumulated in the 
chest from disease of the lungs and pleura. Third, a small 
size of this instrument is used in piercing the head of 
sheep affected with hydatids. After the trocar has entered 
the hydatid sack, the trocar is pulled out, the canula 
remains, the point of a small and well-packed syringe is 
placed in the head of the canula, and the suction-force 
draws the fluid into the syringe, and the small cysts into 
the canula — which can be caught and pulled out by means 
of a pair of forceps. A trocar and canula should be kept 
by every farmer who has a cow or an ox. 

Intestines. — Introsusception, or an entangling of the 
intestines, sometimes takes place in horses, and proves fatal. 

Causes. Bowels empty, and the horse being driven fast. 

Symptoms. When the horse comes in, he is observed to 
be uneasy — lying down, pawing with his feet, following 
closely the symptoms of colic. The difficulty, or impossi- 
bility of procuring relief, is only seen on examination, 
after the horse is dead. (See Bowel Diseases.) 

Itch. — (See Mange and Skin Diseases.) 

Interfering. — This name is in use when speaking of 
a horse hitting himself on the inside of the pastern joint, 
either on the hind or fore leg. Sometimes it is called 
cutting. It is usually done with the side of the opposite 
foot. 



JOINT DISEASES. 145 

Causes. The blacksmith is many times wrongfully 
blamed for want of attention or skill in shoeing the horse, 
because he interferes. There are cases, no doubt, where a 
little observation and care, on the part of the shoer, would 
have prevented it. From much observation, however, I 
am satisfied that the chief cause lies in the weakness of the 
horse, particularly in the spring of the year. Horsemen 
well, know that their horses did not interfere in the winter 
months, when the weather was not oppressive, and the 
horse in excellent spirits ; and no changes have been made 
in the shoer or manner of shoeing. 

Treatment. Give a few powders of iron and gentian in 
the feed, to restore the horse to strength. (See Medicines.) 

Jack. — A small point on the inside of the hock -joint 
of the horse affected with bone spavin. 

Jaundice, — This signifies bile in the blood; biliary 
intoxication, tinging the membranes of the nose, mouth, 
etc., with the yellow color. 

Joint Diseases, — The diseases of the various joints in 
the horse, are many. Among them may be enumerated : 
Of spavin — bone, blood, bog and occult — four varieties, all 
of the hock-joint ; of the patella, in the form of dislocation ; 
of the hip, or whirl- bone joint, ulceration and spraiu ; of 
the joints of the back-bones, caries and ulceration ; of the 
foot, coffin-joint, commonly called navicular-joint, lame- 
ness ; of the pastern joints, anchylosis or stiff-joint; of the 
lower pastern, ring-bone; of the knee-joint, stiffness and 
open joint; of the point of the shoulders, ulceration and 
bulging out of the capsular ligament of the joint; wind 
galls, of almost all the joints, more specially in the pasterns. 
The cause and treatment of these affections will be found 
under their proper heads, throughout the book, 
10 



146 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

Jugular Vein, Inflammation of. — This may be 
merely a simple swelling, after bleeding, caused by bruising 
the parts, by too great force applied when bleeding, or by 
closing the wound too tightly, causing extravasation of 
blood, between the skin and the fascia. Inflammation of 
the jugular may be of great magnitude, involving that 
vessel the whole length of the neck, above and below the 
wound made by bleeding, ultimately causing its entire 
obliteration. And, occasionally, the inflammation extends 
to the brain itself, destroying life. Happily, bleeding is 
not now recommended in the treatment of disease; conse- 
quently, this affection will be among the diseases of the past. 

Treatment. Remove the pin, or whatever has been used 
to close the wound, and apply a piece of blue-stone to the 
bleeding sore ; this may be used once a day, for a day or 
two. Hot fomentations, or a small poultice, should be 
applied to the part, to abate the inflammation or irritation. 
The fomentation will have to be applied the whole length 
of the thick corded vein, to cause its relaxation. Cut the 
feed for the horse, so as to save the movements of the jaws, 
thus giving rest, as much as possible, to the parts affected. 

Kidneys, Diseases of the. — The most important of 
which is that already described under the head of diabetes, 
(which see.) Hematuria or bloody urine is occasionally 
seen in horses, more frequently in cattle, and consists in a 
diseased state of the kidneys, from violent strains or acci- 
dents. 

Calculi, or stone in the kidneys, are often found in the 
kidneys of horses, and cause considerable irregularity in 
making water. 

Treatment. Occasionally give thirty to forty drops of 
muriatic acid, in a bucket of cold water, to drink.- 

Bloody urine may be treated by warm-water cloths, laid 



KNUCKLING. 147 

over the back or in a situation above the kidneys. Use 
flaxseed tea as a drink, to soothe the parts. Give no salt- 
petre or other medicine. 

In old horses, as in old men, considerable chronic dis- 
ease of the kidneys exists. Although little can be accom- • 
plished in the way of cure by medicines, a great deal can 
be done to soothe the parts, by soft and soothing feed and 
drink, such as steamed or boiled feed and flaxseed tea, cut 
grass and other green feed, with plenty of cold water, at 
all times, to drink. The more fluids that go into the 
body, the less irritation of the bladder and kidneys. (See 
Bladder Diseases.) 

Knees Broken. (See Broken Knees.) 

Knee Joint, Loose Cartilages in the. — Small 

loose cartilage is sometimes found floating in the kneejoint 
of horses, as well as of man, and is the cause of much of 
the obscure lameness that is so often unaccounted for, and, 
so far as I am aware, has never been noticed by other 
writers. The lameness is very sudden, and passes off as if 
nothing had happened, constantly coming and going. 

Treatment. Remove the body from the joint by first 
getting it into a corner, and holding it there, and cutting 
and taking it out ; this is too dangerous an operation for 
every person to undertake, as it is cutting into a synovial 
cavity. 

Knuckling, — This is a peculiar loose double action of 
the pastern of the hind legs, and is a symptom rather than 
a disease of itself. 

Cause. Disease in the hock-joint, and weakness in the 
part from the effects of sprains, or other injury. It also 
accompanies occult and bone spavin. 

Observe. Knuckling of the hind pasterns is a symptom 



148 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

strongly indicative that the animal has had an attack of 
paralysis or is likely to have one : at all events it clearly 
shows that either the brain or spinal cord is to a certain 
extent diseased, resulting in loss of motive power in tne 
pasterns. 

Treatment. Feed the horse well, and give fifteen drops 
of the tincture of mix vomica three times in the day. If 
the hock-joint be the cause, treat the hock as for spavin, 
or palliate the symptoms by applying two parts of olive 
oil, and one part of creosote and oil of turpentine, two or 
three times in the week. 

Lameness. — Lameness occurs in many ways, and from 
many causes, such as fractures, bruises, sprains, wounds or 
injuries, all of which will be found treated of, under their 
various names, through the book. 

Laminitis. — A name in use by veterinary surgeons 
when speaking of founder, and is a generic term from 
lamina, or leaf — which forms the bond of unity between 
the sensible and insensible structures of the horse's feet, 
and is the seat of the disease commonly called founder. 
(See Foot Diseases.) 

Lampas. — This is a name applied to a slight enlarge- 
ment, swelling, or fulness of the bars of the mouth of 
young horses from the changes of teething. Pinching the 
skin of the bars with the nail of the thumb till they bleed, 
and rubbing in a little table salt, is much better than 
burning the mouth with a red hot iron — the effects of 
which the animal never forgets nor forgives, as is shown 
in any attempt to do anything about his head. 

Laryngitis. — This is a disease or inflammation of the 
upper portion of the windpipe accompanied with fever, 



LIVER. 149 

increased breathing, and cough. The cause and treatment 
of this disease will be the same as for bronchitis, (which see.) 

Leg, Fractures of the.— (See Fractures.) 

Lice. — Lice of various kinds are often the source of 
much trouble amongst horses kept in the vicinity of hen 
or chicken houses. 

Symptoms. Uneasiness, rubbing, and scratching; stamp- 
ing with the feet and biting at the legs, as if something 
were annoying him. 

Treatment. Take of the liver of sulphur, one ounce; 
cold water, one pint. Mix, and apply with a hard brush 
to but a portion of the body at a time. If that is not 
effectual, get bi-chloride of mercury, thirty-two grains ; 
cold water, one pint. Mix, and apply with a brush to a 
portion only at a time, or a piece of the body every day, 
till all has been gone over with the brush. This is very 
weak, and can do the horse no harm. 

Ligaments. — These are strong, fibrous substances, 
which bind together the different bones of the body or 
skeleton. There are two great classes of ligaments: the 
rounded, or the lateral, and the capsular, or sack-like 
ligaments, as of the shoulder and hip-joint. 

Lipoma. — A variety of fatty tumor. (See Tumors.) 

, Liver. — The liver is the largest secreting gland of the 
' body, situated within the short ribs on the right side. 
Its function is the secretion of bile — a yellow alkaline or 
soapy fluid. 

Without the liver, digestion and animal heat cannot be 
maintained, and the waste or effete matter cannot be re- 
moved from the blood. So, therefore, when the liver is 
disturbed, there can be no health in the rest of the system. 



150 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

Inflammation of the LrvER. — The horse is rarely 
the subject of inflammation of this organ in an acute, but 
more commonly in a chronic form. It is often met with 
from the fact of many horses being highly fed, and having 
nothing to do. 

Symptoms. The affected part is very obtuse. But we 
have a very striking analogy of this disease between man 
and the horse, which materially assists in forming a correct 
opinion as to the disease. Pain and lameness in the right 
shoulder are characteristic of liver disease, whether in man 
or horse, and have often been mistaken for and treated as 
the disease itself. Not less so is the peculiar yellowness of 
the membranes of the eye, nose, and mouth, constituting a 
disease called by old horse doctors the yellows. 

Treatment. Give powdered aloes, four drachms; pow- 
dered ginger root, two drachms; podophyllin, one drachm. 
Mix, and make into a paste with molasses, and form a 
bolus, or crumble the mass in a little thin gruel, and 
drench the horse with it. Feed the horse with green and 
soft feed to keep his bowels open. 

These measures being neglected, suppuration or an 
abscess will be formed, and break into the bowels, or 
become absorbed and produce glanders, which I believe to 
be a prolific cause of this disease, and which is preceded by 
ill health and bad habit of body, terminating by a mysteri- 
ous and unaccountable discharge from the nose, inasmuch 
as it is not accompanied with cough, and other symptoms 
of cold. 

Locked-jaw. — This disease occurs usually after 
wounds of the feet, as from nails running into the feet, 
from wounds and fractures, and from a simple wound of 
a tendinous portion of the body. Locked-jaw occurring 
after wounds or other injuries, is called traumatic. And 



LOCKED- JAW. 151 

when locked-jaw takes place, as it sometimes does, without 
any injury or assignable cause, it is called idiopathic locked- 
jaw. Locked-jaw may be defined a spasmodic contraction 
of the muscles of the body, often confined to one set of 
muscles alone. I have in practice seen the same contrac- 
tion in one set of muscles of the body, and the muscles 
of the jaw free from the cramps and not fixed at all, and 
depending upon the same causes that often produce fixed- 
ness of the jaw. Locked-jaw is sometimes confined to the 
muscles of the neck, and is then called trismus. 

Symptoms. The symptoms accompanying locked-jaw in 
the horse are so well known to everybody, that little need be 
said by me about them further than that there is general 
stiffness and fixedness in the manner of standing,and a pecu- 
liar expression of countenance. The extended and dilated 
nostrils, and the fixed ear, tell the fact very plainly, that 
the muscles of the head and neck are beyond the control 
of the animal, else his jaw or mouth would not be kept 
closed. 

Treatment. Remove the painfully-stricken animal into a 
place by himself, where he will have plenty of air, and no 
sound or sight to disturb him, and where no curious idler 
can enter. Place a bucket of cold, thin gruel where the 
horse can get at it, without an effort to himself to reach it. 
This is all the feed he will be likely enabled to take for a 
period of from three to sixteen days. Renew it once a 
day, and keep it sweet. He may be able to suck this 
through his teeth. Small, choice morsels of other food 
should also be placed within his reach, so as no opportu- 
nity be lost whereby his stomach may be filled, and his 
overtaxed strength be supported. 

In securing the gruel or other feed, have everything at 
hand, so that only one journey will be necessary, in the 



152 DISEASES OF THE HOESE. 

twenty-four hours, to the place he is confined in. Open 
not the door of his house twice when once can be made to 
answer : thus much suffering may be avoided, and the 
chances of recovery enhanced. All the medicine necessary 
for the horse to have, will be one drachm doses, once in 
twenty-four hours, of PRUSSIC acid. Great care will 
have to be exercised in keeping this powerful poison ; and 
considerable judgment as to how this medicine is to be 
given to an animal with his jaws closed. Gently elevate 
the head a little to insure proper gravitation, and pour the 
acid into the widest part between the teeth, and hold the 
head steadily for a few minutes ; then retire, and close the 
door, not a loud word being spoken. A table or dessert 
spoon will answer for the purpose very well. Veterinary 
surgeons have an elastic tube, which is introduced into the 
back part of the mouth, and the acid poured down the tube. 

If the animal live from three to four days, and is 
afforded every opportunity to eat a little, he may get well. 
Whatever the wounds or injuries that have given rise to 
the locked-jaw, they should be dressed with equal portions 
of olive oil and creosote, which will soothe the irritated 
nerves of the part. An occasional poultice of flaxseed may 
be necessary. 

Above all things, neither bleed nor physic, as these can 
do no good, and will only hasten the death of the animal 
by taking away whatever strength he may have, all of 
which will be necessary to carry him through so severe a 
disease. 

Loins. — Sprain of the loins or small of the back is 
sometimes seen in weakly-built horses of irritable dispo- 
sition. 

Symptom. Weakness upon pressure, as of a saddle- 
horse yielding to the rider, when mounting the horse. 



LUNGS. 153 

Treatment. Warm-water cloths should be laid over the 
parts for a few days, followed in the same manner by 
cold-water cloths. Give rest and good feed, and use the 
horse in the shafts of a light four-wheeled carriage, or in 
double harness. Saddle work may be the means of its 
return, more especially if ridden by a heavy person. 

LOSS of Appetite. — This is more of a symptom than 
a disease, and requires for its removal the cause which 
gave rise to it. In cold, influenza and fever, the appe- 
tite is bad, and with their removal it will be restored. 
Take powdered carbonate of ammonia, pimenta berries, 
gentian root, each two drachms, mix in some cold gruel, 
and drench the animal twice a day. This will not only 
remove, in a measure, the cause, but will restore the appe- 
tite also. 

Lumbago. — This is applied to a peculiar stiffness over 
the loins or back, partaking of the nature of rheumatism, 
(which see.) 

Lungs. — These are the organs of breathing, and are 
subject to many diseases, having names familiar to every 
horseman. Under this head, however, I will only notice 
inflammation of the substance of the lungs, 'pneumonia, 
(lung fever,) and of the surface of the lung, pleurisy, 
abscess, adhesion, and congestion. (See Cough, Cold, 
Bronchitis and Emphysema.) 

(1.) Pneumonia. — (Pronounced numonia.) — This is an 
inflammation of the substance of the lungs, of late years 
called lung fever, and is sometimes very common in the 
spring after a severe winter. 

Symptoms. Chill followed by fever and increased for a 
short time, and is succeeded by cold legs and ears, 
quickened breathing, and wide, open nostrils. A peculiar 



154 DISEASES OP THE HOUSE. 

quivering of the muscles of the side and breast will be 
observed in all cases of inflammation of the lungs, and will 
rarely deceive. The animal will eat nothing, and per- 
sistently stands with his nose and mouth in the manger; 
and if taken out of the stall and stable to the open air, he 
will almost refuse to go back again into the stable, relief 
being experienced from the fresh air. Hence, the necessity 
for plenty of fresh air in all diseases of the lungs. When 
the ear is applied to the side of the neck, a peculiar creak- 
ing noise is heard. Slight discharge of serous flakes or 
matter will be observed sticking: to the sides of the nose. 
If this disease be not subdued or cured, it ends in abscess. 
The peculiar pulsations observed in this and other diseases, 
will be found treated of in the introductory remarks. To 
the non-professional person, the general aspect or appear- 
ance of the horse, when under this disease, is infinitely 
more important as a rule and guide in determining the seat 
and nature of the disease, than any assistance they can gain 
from the pulse. 

Cause. Alternations and sudden changes in heat, cold, 
and moisture; an animal not in condition for work; a 
hereditary predisposition in the lungs to take on disease. 
Changes which will produce lung disease in one horse, will 
produce disease of a different character in another. 

Treatment. Place the horse in a light and airy place, atid 
clothe him according to the weather. Bandages to the 
legs will, at all seasons, be necessary to keep them warm, 
and to that extent relieve the lungs of a portion of blood. 
Aconite judiciously given, is the most powerful remedy I 
am acquainted with. Tartar Emetic, so valuable in this 
disease in man, dogs and swine, has no more effect whatever, 
upon either horse, sheep or cattle, than so much flour or 
meal. Give twenty -five drops of the tincture of aconite 



LUNGS. 155 

root, in a cupful of cold water, and drench the horse. Re- 
peat the dose every four hours, till six doses are given. 
In the majority of cases, one to two doses will be all that 
is required to eifect a cure. 

(2.) Pleurisy. — Inflammation of the membrane cover- 
ing the lungs and lining the cavity of the chest. 

Symptoms. A rigor or chill, fever, disinclination to turn 
short, an occasional short painful cough, and careful 
breathing, accompanied with a sigh or grunt. A peculiar 
line will be be observed in pleurisy, running from the 
haunch, round the belly to the breast-bone. The breath- 
ing is deep, not so short and quick as in inflammation of 
the lungs. In the first twenty-four hours after the attack, 
pain will have given way, and the horse be apparently 
better. This, in the majority of cases of pleurisy, when 
left a few hours to itself and not checked, terminates in 
Hydrothorax, (which see,) or water or serum in the chest, 
sometimes causing adhesions. The favorable termination 
of pleurisy is by what is called resolution. 

Causes. Changes in the atmosphere. Exposure to cold. 
Broken ribs or wounds. 

Treatment. Treat the horse as for inflammation of the 
lungs, by giving him pure air, cold water and aconite; 
followed on the second day by five grains of powdered 
Spanish fly in gruel, once in the twenty-four hours. To 
remove the fluids from the body, give, after the active stage 
of the disease has passed, good feeding and generous diet. 

(3.) Abscess. — As elsewhere stated, abscess is the termi- 
nation of inflammation of the lungs. Pus is a common 
result of inflammatory action, and when in the lungs is 
called vomicae, causing, in some cases, consumption. Where 
absorption of the pus has taken place, glanders is the result. 

The abscess frequently breaks into the bronchial tubes, 



156 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

and then pus escapes into the larynx and nares of the 
nose. Hence, the persistent discharge which is so char- 
acteristic of glanders. 

Treatment. The same as for glanders : generous diet, 
tonics and stimulants, with the sulphite of soda and the 
Spanish fly. (See Glanders.) 

(4.) Effusion of Serum. — Hydrothorax is one of the 
ways in which pleurisy terminates, and when this effusion 
is extensive, not much hope of recovery may be expected. 
Cures, however, have been made by drawing off the fluid 
by means of a trocar pierced through between the ribs into 
the chest. 

(5.) Adhesions. — The surface of the lungs becomes 
attached to the sides of the chest by fibrous bands of great 
strength, another common result of pleurisy. Nothing 
can be done but to keep up the health and strength by 
good feeding, etc. 

When animals do not thrive and pick up their spirits 
and flesh after cases of pleurisy, some of these various con- 
ditions may be reasonably expected to be present. 

(6.) Congestion of the Lungs. — The lungs are liable 
to become congested when they are overcharged with blood. 

Symptoms. The horse blows, his nostrils are very much 
expanded, he is heaving at the flanks, and is the picture 
of distress and stupidity. 

Cause. Weakness and want of power in the blood ves- 
sels to contract and empty themselves. 

Treatment. Allow free access to cool air, clothe the 
body and bandage the legs to encourage the blood to the 
skin and legs, and give the following mixture: Sweet 
spirits of nitre, half an ounce; powdered carbonate of am- 
monia, half an ounce; mix in a bottle of cold gruel, in the 
form of a drink. If these articles are not at hand, give 



MAD STAGGEES. 157 

two bottles of warm ale, or half a bottle of brandy or 
whiskey. 

(7.) Pneumothoeax. — So called because the air escapes 
into the cavities of the pleura. 

Lymph. — This is a name applied to the clear fluid 
which circulates in the lymphatic vessels and that which 
is poured out in cut surfaces, after bleeding has stopped, 
and forms the medium by which the parts adhere, and are 
joined together. In this instance it is called coagulable 
lymph, the principal element by which adhesive inflam- 
mation is carried on. 

Lymphangitis. — This is a disease which attacks large 
coarse-bred horses that are difficult to keep in good condi- 
tion, and consists in the outpouring of plastic lymph into 
the femoral veins of one of the fore legs, which, as a con- 
sequence, swells to a very great size, and exhibits to the 
touch a feeling of a great many irregular prominences 
under the skin. It is hot, painful, stiff, and accompanied 
with fever, which, in a short time, passes off. In a few 
days the heat, pain and swelling will diminish a little, and 
the horse will move more freely, but will, in most cases, 
retain a "thick leg" for life. Fomentations of warm 
water should be applied to relieve heat, tension, and pain ; 
to be followed in a few days with broad bandages tightly 
rolled round the limb. Give soft feed, such as cut-mess, 
bran and green food. As soon as the animal can move 
the leg he may be put to slow work. 

Madness. — A disease produced by the bite of a mad 
dog. (See Hydrophobia.) 

Mad Staggers. — An affection of the brain. (See 

Staggers.) 



158 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

Maggots. — These are sometimes seen in neglected 
wounds and sores, in warm weather. To remove them, 
apply equal parts of creosote and olive oil, or a solution of 
corrosive sublimate. 

Malignant. — A term applied to diseases of a fatal 
character; as glanders, for instance. Why the term ma- 
lignant should not be applied to such diseases as locked- 
jaw, and inflammation of the bowels, which are so often 
fatal, is one of the inexplicables of medical nosology or 
terminology, not easy for me to understand. 

Malignant Epidemic. — English writers tell us that 
a malignant epidemic has attacked horses on the European 
Continent. Influenza is a disease from which scarcely one 
per cent, should die when scientifically and intelligently 
treated ; but by bleeding, blistering, physicking, and low 
diet, a really simple and non-fatal disease is at once con- 
verted into a fatal and malignant epidemic. 

Mallenders. — A term used by old books and horse 
doctors, to designate a scaly condition of the skin back of 
the leg and opposite to the knee. A term which certainly, 
to say the least, should long ago have been blotted out of 
all the books, as vague, uncertain, unmeaning. 

This scaly eruption is the result of dryness of the skin 
of the back part of the leg, where the greatest and almost 
constant movement of the joint is going on. The same 
condition is seen on the face of some joints, and in others 
on the back, from the constant mobility of the parts. 

Who has not seen scruffy or scaly heels of horses ending 
with scratches ? (See Skin Diseases.) 

Mange. — This is a disease of the skin, and is caused by 
a small mite called acan, which breeds and burrows in the 



MESENTERICA. 159 

skin. To cure mange, destroy the insect. (See Skin 
Diseases.) 

Materia Medica. — This is a name applied to every 
substance used in the treatment and cure of disease. 

Megrims. — A disease of the brain occurring at peri- 
ods, especially in hot weather, and when exposed to a 
powerful sun. This differs from epilepsy only in the ab- 
sence of spasms. (See Epilepsy.) 

Causes. Tumors in the choroid plexus, and enlarge- 
ment of the pineal gland. 

Treatment. Merely palliative, by using a dutch collar, 
so as not to interfere with the circulation of the blood 
from the head. 

Observe. In summer the horses subject to brain disease, 
or fits of any kind, should not be used for family pur- 
poses. In winter they will make useful animals. 

Melanosis. — A variety of cancer peculiar to gray 
horses, which turns white with age, and is caused by the 
transfer of the coloring pigment from the skin to the 
blood. (See Cancer.) 

Melanoid. — (See Cancer and Tumors.) 

Mesentery. — A membrane formed of two folds of the 
peritoneum, between each of which there are numerous 
glands, lacteals, lymphatics, arteries, veins and nerves. It 
is called the mesentery, because it adheres to three lumbar 
vertebrae, and has the small intestines hanging to it. One 
portion of it is called the mesocolon — supporter of the colon 
— and another the mesorectum, which encloses the rectum. 

Mesenterica. — Wasting of the mesentery is a disease 
which is not very common to horses, although some clear- 
ly marked cases are sometimes seen, characterized by wast- 



160 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

ing of the body, weakness, and general debility of the whole 
system. Bowels irregular, sometimes soft, at other times 
hard, of a pale or straw color, and frequently of bad 
smell. All that can be done is to keep the strength and 
condition of the horse up by iron and gentian, so fre- 
quently recommended throughout the book. 

Metastasis. — A term denoting a change or shifting of 
disease from one part of the body to another, as is well 
illustrated in cases of rheumatism. 

Moon Blindness.— (See Eye Diseases.) 

Mortification. — Death of a part. (See Gangrene.) 

Moribund. — A term in use, and applied when men or 
animals are in a dying condition. 

Mouth, Diseases of the. — These are but few ; per- 
haps the irregularities of the teeth are the most important. 
So much is this the case, that from diseased or carious 
teeth an affection arises, to many external appearances, 
similar to glanders; and horses have accordingly been 
destroyed, whereas, if a carious tooth, producing a stinking 
discharge from the nose, had been removed, these appear- 
ances would have passed off. The edges of the teeth of 
horses, at all ages, are apt to become sharp, and cut or 
wound the inside of the mouth, and interfere with 
mnstication or chewing. When horses are off their feed 
and losing flesh, it will be well to have the teeth examined. 
To remedy any irregularity of the grinders, a rasp or file, 
with a concave surface and long handle, is used to make 
the teeth smooth and level. Wolf teeth are supernu- 
merary, but do no injury to either the mouth or the eyes. 

(1.) Scald Mouth. — Another simple affection of the 
mouth, which is characterized by the horse slobbering or 



MOUTH. 



161 



frothing from the mouth, as if salivated. In aggravated 
cases fever is present. 

Treatment. Give ten drops of the tincture of aconite root 
in a little cold water three times in the day, for 48 hours, 
and allow the horse to have a bucket of cold water sus- 
pended or placed before him, to cool his mouth in. 




TOOTH CHISEL, RASP AND HAMMER. 

(2.) Wounds op the Tongue. — Should be treated the 
same way, but without the aconite. If the tongue is 
nearly cut through, have the cut portion entirely removed. 
The horse can do wonderfully well without a large part of 
his tongue. 

(3.) Black Tongue. — This is not a disease, but the 
effect of a simple and non-fatal affection, frequently treated 
by bleeding, blistering and physicking — destroying vitality, 
and inducing mortification of the tongue, as well as of other 
portions of the body. 

(4.) Aphthous Thrush. — Soreness of the mouth, with 
white patches on the tongue, inside the cheeks and roof of 
the mouth. In man, this condition of the mouth is called 
stomatitis. 

Causes. Bad condition of the stomach and dyspepsia. 
11 



162 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

Treatment. Borax in powder, one ounce ; molasses, three 
ounces ; mix, and apply with a soft brush, or soft piece of 
cloth. Give soft feed or cut grass. A few doses of sulphite 
of soda, half an ounce to a dose, given for a few evenings, 
will be all that is wanted. (See Lampas.) 

The mouth is a favorite and convenient place for horse- 
men to try the keenness of their pocket knives, when the 
least pretext is offered. 

The palatine artery is sometimes cut lengthwise ; and 
when that is the case, the bleeding, thus unnecessarily 
induced, will not stop when it is wanted. Many plans 
and contrivances are recommended, by individuals, to stop 
such bleeding ; but none are equal to a piece of iron or 
kitchen-poker immersed, for a few minutes, in hot water, 
and applied to the wound for a moment, which will at 
once stop further loss of blood. 

(5.) Parrot Mouth. — A malformation consisting in the 
upper front teeth projecting over the lower ones. Young 
horses are little inconvenienced by it, but not so with old 
ones, when the teeth are long ; for then the lower teeth 
wound the soft palate of the upper jaw, especially when the 
horse is eating. Keep the teeth short by the use of the file. 

MUCOUS Membrane. — A thin lining of all the air- 
passages; so-called, because the surface is kept moist, with 
a slimy matter, as referred to in the succeeding article. 
When this mucus is altered in quantity and quality, and 
when mucous-pus is poured out, disease is present. This 
is seen in cases of cold, bronchitis, and inflammation of the 
eyes, (which see.) 

Mucus. — A thick, viscid substance, thrown out from 
the mucous membrane, throughout the body. 

Myalgia. — A term given to inflammation of a set of 



NECEOSIS. 



163 



muscles, and is applied, by some, to wasting of the mus- 
cles, as is sometimes seen in sweenie. 

Narcotics. — Medicines which act upon the nervous 
system, diminishing its power and sensibility, and so re- 
lieving inflammation, irritation, and pain. A medicine 
capable of doing this, also contains the properties of an 
anodyne, a sedative, soporific, carminative, and nauseant. 

There are but few medicines possessing this power over 
the horse, and these are, aconite, prussic acid, veratrum, 
and, perhaps, lobelia. In my practice, nothing answers 
the purpose so well as aconite. It is the great antiphlo- 
gistic. Indeed, so great is its power, that in bronchitis, 
inflammation of the lungs, feet, and bowels, or where there 
is pain and fever, no remedy or remedies can compare with 
this invaluable medicine in the treatment of diseases of 
the horse. (See Medicines and Prescriptions.) 

Nasal Gleet. — A thin, transparent discharge from the 
nose. (See Gleet.) 

Navicular Disease. — This is a disease commonly 
called coffin-joint lameness, and by some it is termed 
grogginess. (See Foot Diseases.) 




BONE HOLDER. 



Necrosis. — This is a term given to a dead bone when 
it is attached to a sound one. The difference between 
caries and necrosis is this : Caries is present when the bone 



164 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

is impaired only, and necrosis when the bone is entirely 
dead, and its functions have entirely ceased. When a bone 
has fallen into the condition of necrosis, its removal be- 
comes as necessary as the removal of any other dead or 




liston's bone forceps. 



foreign matter, in order that reparation and restoration of 
the function be repaired, and a cure be made. 

Nephritis. — A technical term applied to inflammation 
of the kidneys, (which see.) 

Nervousness. — Few persons having the care of horses 
have failed to observe in them, occasionally, a peculiar 
excitability of disposition when any confusion and noise is 
going on, and when being harnessed for work. The tail 
becomes somewhat elevated, they move from one side of 
the stall to the other, and pass manure from them repeat- 
edly every few minutes, until one would think there was 
nothing left in their bowels. These animals are usually 
light bellied and poor feeders, but fleet and free goers, very 
gay in saddle or harness, and much admired by persons not 
versed in horse-flesh. They make excellent Sunday horses, 
but poor every -day animals, as the constant excitement, 
when at work, overdoes their physical powers. This con- 
dition impairs the value of the horse very much. 

Treatment. Keep nervous horses in a place by themselves, 
where there is no noise or sound to disturb them, and have 
no harness or saddles in the place with them, nor clean 



NOSE. 165 

harness or saddles where they are ; for whenever a piece 
of harness is seen in the hands of the groom, the animal 
expects it to be put upon him — hence he gets excited, and 
efforts are made to empty the bowels of their contents. 
The harnessing or saddling should be the last thing done 
before going out with such a horse, as it gives him no time 
to empty the bowels and become excited. Ten grains of 
opium, and a drachm or two of prepared chalk may be 
given, either half an hour before going out, or after he 
comes in. Such horses are more pleasant to drive, if this 
be given. Stuffing cotton or wool in the ears also has a 
good effect. 

Neurotomy. — An operation for dividing the nerves of 
feeling, as they enter the foot on both sides of the leg. 
The operation is performed for the purpose of removing 
pain from the foot in navicular disease. It has, however, 
of late years fallen into disrepute on account of ignorant 
men operating indiscriminately on feet of all forms and 
shapes alike — in consequence of which no surprise should 
have been expressed, when in some cases the feet ultimately 
fell off. 

Neurotomy should never be performed upon flat and 
weak-footed horses, as they are easily bruised, and sup- 
puration is set up, terminating in separation of the outer 
and inner foot structures. Weak and flat-footed horses, 
when sound, are careful how they put their feet upon hard 
roads and paved streets ; but when deprived of all feeling 
by the operation of neurotomy, they let their feet come 
down on the ground with great force, so as to injure them, 
resulting, as before stated, in the hoof falling off. 

Nose, Diseases of the. — (See Cold, Catarrh, and 
Bronchitis.) 



166 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

Numbness. — Loss of feeling in any part, usually 
indicating disease of the brain, resulting in paralysis or 
palsy. 

Obesity. — This is a term applied to morbid or un- 
healthy fatness. When this condition is in the mesentery, 
it produces big belly ; in the liver, fatty liver; in the heart, 
fatty degeneration of that organ. 

Causes. — Little or no work, or exercise disproportionate 
between the amount of food taken and the waste. 

Treatment. — Constant and regular work ; feed in small 
bulk, oats instead of corn, and not much hay. To animals 
inclining to take on too much fat and flesh, give a dose of 
physic (see Aloes, Medicines and Prescriptions,) occasion- 
ally, but do not bleed. 

(Edema. — A term signifying soft but not inflammatory 
swellings of various parts of the body, as a sequel to 
debilitating diseases. These swellings contain serum 
thrown out from the blood. The treatment of this affec- 
tion will be the removal of the exciting cause. (See 
Dropsy.) 

(Estromania. — This name is, by some called cesteniug, 
which name is applied to mares and cows when desiring 
the male. 

Omentum. — A fold of the peritoneum, which hangs 
down from the stomach, and is reflected on itself upwards 
and backwards to the colon. It is in this where the great 
deposition of fat takes place. The omentum is often 
implicated in rupture. 

Open Joints. — (See Broken Knees.) 

Ophthalmia. — (See Eye Diseases.) 

Ossification. — The formation of bone; but in the 



PARALYSIS. 167 

language of medical men it means a deposition of earthy 
matter in the soft textures of the body where bone does 
not exist. Thus, for instance, we speak of ossification of 
the lateral cartilages of the foot, which form ring-bone. 
We have ossification of the heart, arteries, and other parts 
of the body. 

Osteology. — A name used in speaking of the bony 
system. 

Osteoporosis. — This is a name given to big head. It 
is incurable. 

Ostisis. — (See Splint.) 

Overreach. — This is the consequence of driving faster 
than the horse should go. The injury is generally done by 
the edge of the inner rim of the shoe. Avoid the cause, 
and treat the wound with the simple ointment. (See Pre- 
scriptions and Medicines.) 

Ozena. — (See Gleet.) 

Palliatives. — Medicines given not to cure disease, but 
to relieve the pain. 

Paralysis, or Palsy. — Loss of the power of moving 
in some parts of the body. Paralysis may be confined to 
one leg or two legs; then it is called partial. When the 
horse has lost the power of standing, and the four legs are 
affected, then it is complete. Usually, however, in the 
horse it is confined to the hind parts, or the haunches and 
legs. Sometimes the paralyzed part is numb, at others the 
sense of feeling remains. 

Causes. Disease in the brain and spinal cord. 

Treatment. If the patient is young, exercise patience and 
time and nature will do a great deal in a disease of this 
kind. The general health is to be kept up by good feeding 



168 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

and tonic medicine — such as fifteen drops of the tincture of 
nux vomica, four times in the twenty-four hours. Turn 
the horse from side to side twice in the day, and give 
plenty of dry, clean bedding to prevent the skin from 
scalding and peeling off — which is sometimes a source of 
great irritation to the poor horse. The paralyzed parts 
should be well rubbed with a stiff brush. Electricity has 
been regarded as an advantage in this disease, but from 
what I have seen, not much is to be expected from it. 
The nux vomica offers, with good feeding and care, the 
best chance for recovery. It must be remembered that 
this is a nervous affection, and probably these diseases are 
not so manageable, nor are they so easily cured, as other 
affections of a different type. 

Parotid Duct. — Distended. — This is a rare affection 
in horses. It resembles a round ball attached to the edge 
of the lower jaw; an elastic encysted tumor, or rather like 
an encysted tumor. An incident, slightly illustrative of 
appearance, occurred some time since. I was called in to 
see a horse that proved to be so affected, and told the 
gentleman that so long as the ball did not break, it would 
do the horse no injury, and that I would not recommend 
its removal; whereupon he said he would give five hun- 
dred dollars if the horse had another on the other side; 
that then he would look like an Angora goat. 

Open and Fistulous. — This is a serious affection, 
for with every movement of the jaw in chewing or 
masticating the feed, the glands pour out the saliva which 
should mix with the feed, and assist in the act of diges- 
tion, and it is lost upon the ground. The animal becomes 
thin of flesh, gets weak, and after a time dies a 
miserable object. 



PATELLA. 169 

Causes. Injuries, or accident to the gland or its duct, 
resulting in suppuration. From the mobility of the parts, 
fistula is established. 

Treatment. Few horse doctors or farmers can cure this 
affection. An expert or accomplished surgeon is only able 
to effect a cure, and this will be by closing the open or 
fistulous duct, so that the saliva will, with the feed, find 
its way into the stomach. 

India rubber dissolved in chloroform, applied over the 
mouth of the wound, when it is thoroughly dry, will stop 
it for a few days. By continuing this application, a cure 
in very many cases can be made. 

Pathology. — A department of medical science which 
treats of the causes and nature of disease, and of the 
appearances of diseased parts when living or dead. 

Patella, Dislocation of the. — This is a common 

occurrence in high spirited, nervous and weakly horses. 

Symptoms. The horse stops, if at work, and throws up 
his head, slightly bending the pastern of the dislocated leg, 
and holding the leg back behind the body, being unable to 
bring it under it. Fever and irritation sometimes ac- 
company this accident, more especially if it is of rare 
occurrence in the animal. The oftener the patella has 
been out, the less fever and irritation will be seen. There 
are horses with which it is of frequent occurrence, and 
happily for them, there is just as little trouble in putting 
the leg in its place again ; a crack of the whip will do it 
sometimes. This is a serious objection in an otherwise fancy 
horse. There is but one other affection of the hind leg 
which can be mistaken for it, and that is cramp, (which see.) 

Treatment. Remove the horse to a stable, attach a rope 
to the pastern of the leg which is dislocated, carry the end 



170 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

of the rope through a ring or over a beam at or about the 
horse's head, place the end of the rope in the hands of one 
or two strong men — telling them not to pull till a man is 
placed at the head of the horse to keep him steady — have 
another man at the leg with one hand placed firmly on the 
point of the hock-joint pulling towards himself, and the 
other pushing firmly against the dislocated joint, then let 
the men on the rope pull firmly and gently, till the foot 
is brought fairly in under the horse's body ; after which 
the rope should be removed, and the horse kept quiet for 
a day or two. 

Pasterns. — (See Sprains.) 

Pelvis. — The anatomical name for the lower part of 
the abdomen or belly. 

Pelvic Abscess — This condition is sometimes seen 
in weakly constitutioned mares within a few days after 
foaling. 

Symptom. In from one to four days one of the thighs 
of the hind legs will be swollen, hot and painful, causing 
the mare to shiver or appear chilly, not from cold, but 
from the suppurative inflammatory action going on. The 
milk will have most entirely ceased, and the colt will have 
to be fed by the bottle as a child, or out of a bucket like 
a calf, till the mare is cured and the milk returns. One 
curious condition about pelvic abscess is, that although it 
suppurates, the abscess does not break usually on the 
thigh, as it would be expected to do, but within an inch 
or two from the haunch bone. 

Treatment. The pus which has accumulated from so 
large an abscess, does not discharge itself from the place of 
opening, but burrows away down among the muscles of the 
hip and thigh, down to within a few inches of the hock 



PERITONITIS. 171 

itself. Hence, the great secret in the treatment of pelvic 
abscess is to make two free openings, one above, at the point 
of the soft abscess, and the other within from four to six 
inches of the hock on the outside of the thigh. Then take 
a smooth elastic twig or a long piece of whalebone nicely 
smoothed with sand-paper and introduce into the opening 
above, and gently force it down to within an inch or so of 
the lower opening. This being done, the pus will all dis- 
charge itself from the lower hole. Then inject with a 
small syringe, once a day, for a few days, about half a 
tablespoonful of the following mixture : Oil of turpentine 
and olive oil, equal parts. Keep the parts clean, feed the 
mare and colt well, and leave nature to complete the cure. 

Penis Hanging out. — This a serious defect, and is 
the result of weakness and debility. The organ of gener- 
ation is weak, the sheath swells, clasping the penis in its 
grasp until it also becomes enlarged, and in most cases 
will not draw into its place again, so that it must either 
remain so or be cut off close to the prepuce or sheath. 
This affection and the opposite conditions, Phymosis and 
Paraphymosis, were very prevalent amongst the horses of 
the army, in the late war. 

Peristaltic. — A term applied to the serpentine motion 
of the bowels, one portion contracting and forcing its 
contents onward into the next. 

Peritonitis. — Inflammation of the peritoneum, or the 
serous membrane which lines the walls or inside of the 
belly, characterized by great pain, and is the result of 
accidents or injuries, and, at times, surgical operations. 

Treatment. The same as for any disease of an exalted 
kind, using aconite root, cold water and pure air, and 
after the pain and fever have subsided, good feeding. 



172 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

Periosteum. — The thin pearly covering investing the 
bone. It is the stretch of this membrane in cases of 
splint which causes pain and lameness. (See Splint.) 

Phagadena. — A name used in surgery, implying a 
spreading and destructive ulcer, which spreads rapidly and 
destroys the surrounding parts. The true meaning of this 
word is eating, and in its effects it is similar to what is 
called, in domestic practice, hospital gangrene — a local, 
spontaneous combustion, in which oil globules are poured 
out in great quantity in and around the sore or ulcer. 
These ulcers are common on the heels and legs of horses 
after a severe winter. When on the heels, the ulcers are 
taken by horsemen to be scratches. Phagadena does not 
usually assume the form or appearance of a cut or scratch, 
but is generally a flat, round or oval, and circumscribed 
sore at first ; the hair of the part stands on end, with 
oil drops all over the surface, and in a few days the whole 
of the skin and hair falls off, or a separation of the edges 
of the sore will take place, and the skin and flesh of 
the part will completely fall out, (called core,) leaving an 
unhealthy-looking sore, with a white sanious fluid cover- 
ing the whole of its surface. When the slough does not 
take place, it is gradually eaten away, and in this case 
leaves on the edges and surface of the sore a thin dirty- 
colored-looking skin or membrane. 

Causes. Bad habit of body, from impure blood, death of 
the part from exposure of the heels in some mixture of 
salt and snow. Cold drafts under stable doors. 

Treatment. The complete removal of all dead matter 
belonging to the ulcer, and a thorough cleansing of its 
inner surface. This is important, as it will not only be 
rendered necessary as a measure of cure, but as a surety 
against it spreading further up the leg or heels. Then 



PHYSICKING. 173 

sprinkle the edges and inner surface twice in the day, for 
a day or two with powdered blue stone to destroy the 
unhealthy surface and hasten a red surface, or the granu- 
latory process by which the hole will be speedily filled up 
again. Complete the cure by sprinkling powdered loaf 
sugar over the sore twice in the twenty-four hours. 
Support the strength of the horse by good and generous 
diet. (See Scratches and Frost Bites.) 

Phlebitis. — A name given to inflammation of the vein 
after bleeding, characterized by swelling and cording of 
the vein. (See Jugular Vein.) 

Phlegmasia Dolens. — A name given to one leg when 
swelled to a great extent from plugging of the blood 
vessels of the leg with plastic matter poured into them 
from the blood. (See Grease.) 

Phrenitis. — One of the many diseases of the brain 
characterized by the horse becoming unmanageable — a 
variety of staggers, or it may be of inflammation of the 
brain itself, and is incurable. 

Physiology, — A branch of medical science treating of 
the life and functions of organized bodies. 

Physicking. — In England, and in some parts of the 
European continent, a person who does not know how to 
physic a horse, whether sick or well, is not considered fit 
to take care of horses. In the United States, the man who 
knows all about, and recommends physicking under almost 
any circumstances, should not be permitted even to take a 
horse by the head, much less to take care of horses not his 
own. In an extensive practice of many years, I do not 
recollect a half dozen times, when I either gave or recom- 
mended a horse to be physicked ; and no man can show 



174 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

equal success in the treatment of diseases of horses and 
cattle, let his mode of practice be what it may. Remember, 
when the bowels are opened, and emptied of their contents, 
an important pillar has been taken from under the animal 
structure. Show me a European book on the diseases of 
animals, which does not recommend and minutely describe 
how to physic a horse, and I will show you a city without 
walls, without a church, or gymnasium. In this connec- 
tion, I am sorry to say, that our American authors, on 
animal diseases, have copied too closely from European 
practice, which is utterly unfit for this country, climate 
and the constitution of all our domestic animals. 

Pleurisy. — Inflammation of the serous membrane 
covering the lungs, and lining the sides of the chest. (See 
Lung Diseases.) 

Pleuro-piieumonia. — Inflammation of the covering 
and substance of the lungs and chest. 

Pleurodynia. — This is a rheumatic affection of the 
intercostal muscles, differing from pleurisy, from there 
being no constitutional disturbance, little fever, and no 
inflammation. It is treated with a dose or two of the 
tincture of aconite root given internally, and mustard and 
a little vinegar rubbed into the muscles of the sides, be- 
hind the shoulder. 

Plethora. — Fullness of blood. (See Obesity.) 

Pneumonia. — Inflammation of the lungs, (which see.) 

Poisons. — These act differently in destroying life. 
They are derived from the organic and inorganic kingdoms, 
and their effects are either local or remote. Poisons may be 
taken into the stomach, inhaled in the form of sulphuretted 
hydrogen, communicated through the skin, as from the bite 



poisons. 175 

of a poisonous animal, or absorbed from wounds. (See 
Glanders.) Poisons act in one of three ways : 

(1.) Irritant Poisons are those poisons the symptoms 
of which are inflammation, irritation, and pain. Examples 
— arsenic, bi-chloride of mercury, lead, baryta, copper, and 
the Spanish fly. 

Treatment. The plan to be adopted in this class of 
poisons in the horse is : Give him large quantities of the 
white of eggs, milk, linseed oil; and remove the poison as 
speedily as possible by giving large quantities of linseed 
oil — say two quarts. The horse cannot vomit ; hence, it is 
difficult to procure a prompt evacuation of the stomach. 
If the pain be great, give aconite to subdue it, and to keep 
down inflammation and sympathetic fever. 

(2.) Narcotic Poisons. — Poisons which act on the 
brain and nervous centres, producing stupidity or coma. 

Treatment. Give four grains of strychnia mix vomica in 
a few pints of gruel made with vinegar. Keep the horse 
walking around, and place chopped ice in a bag, and put 
it on the forehead. 

(3.) Narcotic Acrid Poisons. — Poisons acting as the 
above, and causing irritation, inflammation, fever, and pain. 
Examples of this class are, mix vomica and veratria. 

Treatment. Aconite will not only relieve the pain, but is 
an excellent antidote for strychnia; and for aconite, 
strychnia may be given with advantage in cases of this 
variety of poisoning. 

Poisoning from lead and copper is most frequent in the 
country, or in the vicinity of lead and copper-smelting 
works, or in pastures where manure from large towns and 
cities is spread, or on farms where the water is conveyed in 
leaden pipes, or is kept in troughs and cisterns lined with 
lead. Pieces of lime and nails, or scraps of iron finding 



176 DISEASES OF THE HOESE. 

their way into leaden troughs, cause oxidation of the lead, 
forming sugar of lead — a bad poison. Not long since, 
heavy damages were awarded a farmer who had lost several 
head of cows from lead poisoning, occasioned by the spray 
of leaden bullets shot against a stone wall by a rifle, or 
military company — the fringes of lead spread upon the 
grass being converted into the sugar, or oxide of that metal, 
and the cows gathering it with the pasture. 

Treatment. Give large doses of white of eggs, and linseed 
oil, in either lead or copper poisoning, to shield the coats 
of the stomach and bowels, and to remove it from the body 
altogether. Happily for his owner, large quantities of 
poisonous materials are necessary to destroy the life of the 
horse. Materials which will destroy man, dog, and the 
pig, will not, in many instances, have any effect on the 
horse, sheep, and cattle. Antimony, an active and deadly 
poison, when given to omnivorous animals, has no more 
effect in a poisonous point of view than the same quantity 
of earth, when given to herbivorous animals. Hence, 
tartar emetic is now no longer used as a nauseant in the 
treatment of horses and cattle, when laboring under lung 
diseases, however useful it is in the same diseases in man 
and the dog. 

Poll-Evil. — This affection of the back part of the head 
is well known to horsemen, without much of a description 
being given. It consists in suppurative inflammation 
forming pus in the form of a simple abscess, or in the form 
of fistula, (which see.) 

Cause. Injury to the part, or disease of the bone. 

Treatment. As soon as the swelling has become a little 
soft, have it opened without delay, before the pus has time 
to burrow down among the bones of the neck, and cause 
disease in them. Make the opening large and deep enough, 



POLL-EVIL. 



177 



so as to admit three fingers, that the abscess can be swabbed 
out with a piece of sponge or cloth tied on the end of a 
stick, to remove the pus. This will have to be done twice 
in the day, till no more pus can be brought out. 




WOUND DILATEK AND KNIFE. 



Occasionally syringe or squirt cold water into the sore, 
and swab it out again, till completely dry. Then apply 
tne following, once in a day, with a swab : Creosote, one 
ounce ; oil of olives, two ounces ; oil of turpentine, one 
ounce ; mix. In applying the mixture do not use the 
swab too freely, as it may break down the granulations 
or the healing processes that are springing up to fill the 
hole or cavity, and thereby prevent a perfect cure. 

When poll-evil is the result of diseased bone, and par- 
takes of a fistulous character, it will not be so easily healed 
or cured ; for the underlying bone being carious, and 
becoming necrosed, before exfoliation or separation of the 
dead bone takes place the horse maybe dead — the process 
taking years to perfect itself. And when it is cured, there 
is usually a stiff" neck remaining ever after. Ten drops of 
sulphuric acid poured in the fistulous opening of the 
12 



178 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

swelling or sore will hasten recovery very much and in 
many cases effect a good and speedy cure. Once a day 
will be often enough, and if there be more than one fistu- 
lous opening, drop the acid into one to-day and the other 
to-morrow, and continue from day to day, till each and 
every opening ceases to discharge a whitish gray matter, 
and a dry-looking opening is presented. Afterwards, use 
a solution of the sulphate of zinc : one drachm of the zinc 
to four ounces of water, will answer the purpose. Horses 
having sores of all kinds on their body should be well fed 
and cared for. 

Polypi. — These are diseased enlargements, which grow 
upon the mucous membranes of the nose and ear, and in 
the uterus or womb of mares. 

Treatment. If they are small, they are cured by touching 
them with a stick of caustic potassa ; if large, cut them off 
with a sharp knife or scissors, and apply a weak solution 
of blue stone to the sore till it is healed. 

Predisposing Causes. — Causes which render an 
animal susceptible to disease. For example, a young horse 
standing in the stable from day to day becomes predisposed 
to disease of the throat and lungs, when put to any exer- 
tion. Old age is a predisposing cause of disease. Some 
animals, as well as men, are more disposed to disease than 
others. From their temperament, and certain conditions 
of the solids and the fluids of the body, the body is more 
susceptible to what is called a predisposing cause. 

Prick of the Foot. — (See Foot Diseases.) 

Probang. — This is one of two instruments. One is for 
forcing obstructions down the gullet in cases of choking, 
and the other an instrument used in giving to horses, etc., 



PRURIGO. 179 

medicine in a solid form or in the form of a ball or bolus. 
For the former purpose a stout handle of a common cane 
whip will answer, and for the latter an instrument shown 
in the following cut is the best in use. 




moyer's patent probang. 

Procidenta. — A term used to denote the falling down 
of the womb, or foal bed in brood mares. This affection 
is very common in milch cows ; not so in mares. 

Prognosis. — The foretelling the course and event of 
a disease, from its symptoms. Prognosis may be favora- 
ble or unfavorable. Nothing can so well distinguish the 
scientific veterinary surgeon from the blockhead in such 
matters as correct prognosis. 

Prophylactics. — Is a term applied to the means 
made, or adopted, for the preservation of health, and the 
prevention of disease. 

Proud Flesh. — A common name applied to hasty 
granulations in a sore or wound, which present a fungous 
appearance. To cure and prevent this, sprinkle a little 
white sugar, powdered blue stone, or a little red precipitate 
on the surface. 

Prurigo. — An itchiness of the skin, which is best 
treated by the sulphite of soda, in half ounce doses, given 
every night in cut feed, for a week. (See Skin Diseases.) 



180 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

Pulse. — This is the stroke or beat of an artery, conse- 
quent upon its alternate dilation and contraction caused by 
the action of the heart. The pulse is subject to many 
variations, even not depending upon disease. It is also 
liable to changes from temporary excitement, as from se- 
vere heat, etc. Medicines act upon the circulation, and 
consequently change the beat and character of the pulse. 
If the disease be debility, diffusible stimulants will be 
required to raise the pulse; and in order to depress the 
circulation, as in inflammation and fever, nauseants are 
indicated, such as aconite and veratrum. (See Pulse, in 
Introductory Remarks.) 

Puncture. — Wounds inflicted with a sharp-pointed 
tool, as a staple or hay fork, etc. Punctured wounds are 
dangerous, depending upon their depth and locality, and 
should be treated by free openings from the bottom of the 
wound, to allow the exposed fluids to escape. The parts 
should be dressed with simple ointment. (See Medicines 
and Prescriptions.) 

Purgatives. — A class of medicines capable of cleans- 
ing or emptying the bowels. Purgatives are distinguished 
from laxatives, only in the quantity given. Six to eight 
drachms of aloes will act as a purgative, and two to three 
drachms will act as a laxative. When laxativesare neces- 
sary, repeat at distant intervals. 

Purpura. — This is a disease which is but rarely seen, 
and consists in the surface of the whole body and legs 
being covered with pimples, or small boils, which discharge 
a livid or purple-colored fluid. The animal is very much 
debilitated; and, accompanied with sympathetic fever, we 
not un frequently see swellings of the head and parts of the 
body, with the legs very thick, and the same colored fluid 



PUTREFACTION. 181 

oozing out of them. Invariably the horse is scarcely able 
to move. The worst form of this disease ist he purpura 
hsernoragica, or bleeding purpura. The small boils are 
the result of extravasation from the minute blood vessels 
under the skin. 

Cause. Venous congestion of the whole surface of the 
body, and, possibly, a deterioration of the blood itself. 

Treatment. Support the strength, to keep off typhoid 
symptoms; enrich the blood, and attend to the surface 
sores. For this purpose, give the following powders, night 
and morning: Powdered sulphate of iron, three ounces ; 
gentian root, two ounces and a half; carbonate of ammonia, 
four ounces. Mix, and divide into twelve powders, one to 
be given twice in the day. Give, occasionally, forty to 
sixty drops of commercial sulphuric acid in a bucket of 
cold water. Feed the horse well, and apply to the sores 
olive oil, three ounces ; and creosote, one ounce ; once every 
second day, and wash the sores twice a week. Horses once 
attacked by this disease are ever after liable to it. 

Pus. — This is the material found in abscesses. Pus 
may be healthy, or laudable, as it is called. Unhealthy, 
when it is mixed with blood and has a stinking smell. 
Healthy pus is of the thickness and color of cream, and 
is insoluble in water. 

Putrefaction. — Certain diseases are regarded as putrid, 
where the discharges have a black appearance, and putrid 
smell. When weakness and debility are present, putrid 
ulcers spread rapidly. The treatment of putrefaction, in a 
living animal, should be directed to laying open the sores, 
so as to get rid of the putrid discharge before it is absorbed 
into the circulation. Then wash immediately with the 
solution of the chloride of lime, after which dress the sores 



182 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

with equal parts of olive oil and creosote, and sprinkle 
them with powdered charcoal. Furnish the horse with 
good feed to support the strength, and give sulphate of iron 
and gentian root, two drachms each, night and morning. 

Putrid Fever. — (See Typhosus.) 

Pyemia. — This is a term signifying pus in the blood, 
acting and setting up fermentation. Examples: Tuber- 
cles in the lungs, glanders, farcy, and grease. (All of 
which see.) 

Quack Medicines. — These are medicines prepared 
according to private or secret receipts, and are puffed up 
in newspapers, and private circulars, as infallible cures for 
most all diseases which can be named, in either man or 
beast; either for external application, or internal adminis- 
tration. No subject in medicine has been more fully ex- 
posed than the great and absurd pretensions of these 
medicines. But, notwithstanding all this, the credulity of 
even the best class of society is great, the readiest victims 
being found among them. It surely requires no argument 
to show how dangerous must be the indiscriminate use of 
powerful drugs when compounded by parties who likely 
never had the slightest opportunity to acquire a medical 
education, and why such persons cannot cure, by their 
remedies, diseases which are, or may be, deemed incurable, 
and have defied the most consummate skill and experience 
of the veterinary medical world. 

Quinsy. — A name given to sore throat. (See Distem- 
per and Influenza.) 

Quittor. — This term is used in England for a disease 
in the foot of a fistulous character. (See Foot Diseases.) 



RESPIRATION 



183 




" Quittor Syeinge, with Rings. To be used with one Hand. " 

Rabies. — (See Hydrophobia.) 

Rachitis. — A disease of the bones of young animals, 
due to a deficiency of earthy matter, (lime,) which causes 
the bones to yield, being too soft. In colts of the first 
year, some will be observed to stand so close at the knees, 
that one joint touches the other, which gives the fore legs 
a curious-looking twist, with the feet turned out, and the 
knees bent in. Colts so affected soon get well when they 
are supplied with good, nutritious food, in which the 
phosphate of lime predominates. Rachitis, (pronounced 
racketis,) in old horses, is seldom seen ; and when it is, it 
is in the bones of the back or lumbar vertebra?, is char- 
acterized by swellings of an irregular kind, with water 
oozing from them, and is called hydro-rachitis or spina- 
bifida. Horses so affected are not fit for work with 
weight upon the back. (See Deformities.) 

Resolution. — This is the most favorable termination 
of inflammation, and leaves the inflamed part in the same 
state or condition in which it was before it was attacked. 

Respiration. — The alternate inspiration and expira- 
tion of air, performed for the purpose of exchanging the 
hydrogen and carbon for oxygen. The air being brought 
in contact with the blood, as it circulates through the 
lungs, the oxygen unites with it, and the nitrogen and 
carbonic acid gas are returned by expiration. The oxygen 
and some of the inhaled air is united in the lungs with 



184 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

free hydrogen, which is given out from the lungs, and is 
readily seen issuing from the nostrils on a frosty morning, 
or when the thermometer is about 40°. 

Revulsion. — A second attack of disease, but in a re- 
mote or different part of the body from which the first 
attack had its seat. Example: If an eruption, or the ab- 
scess of strangles be repelled from the outside of the body, 
we will find it attacking an internal organ. (See Metastasis.) 

Rheumatism. — In no disease of the horse are there so 
many errors and mistakes committed ; not only as to the 
nature of the affection, but its mode of treatment. Horse- 
men and horse doctors have not yet learned that there is a 
difference between rheumatism and founder, whether 
acute or chronic, and how to distinguish one from the 
other. The difference between acute or inflammatory 
rheumatism and acute founder is this: In rheumatism 
there is not only pain, but great fever and excitement, and 
its seat is in the joints of the legs; in founder, we have 
pain, but no fever, and the disease is confined to the feet 
alone. (See Laminitis.) 

In chronic rheumatism there may be some excuse for 
such mistakes, as there is no fever; but there is an inabil- 
ity to move, as if the horse was sprained over the loins. 
(See Lumbago.) 

(1.) Acute Rheumatism. — Nothing else but what is 
called (when man is the subject,) rheumatic fever. 

Symptoms. Great fever, excitement and irritation, with 
extreme pain in the legs and joints; so much so, that the 
stricken horse has not a leg fit to stand upon, and dares 
not move from the place he occupies, from fear of falling 
to the ground. In connection with all this disturbance, 
the horse sweats profusely, and blows or breathes excitedly, 



RHEUMATISM. 185 

having no heat in the feet, as in founder. It will be well 
to remember this, in forming a correct opinion of the case. 
In severe cases, the whole of the muscles of the body are 
set to quivering, clearly indicating inflammatory rheuma- 
tism in full force and degree. 

Causes. Sudden check to perspiration, by placing 
heated horses in a current or draught of cold air, thus 
preventing the transudation through the skin of its formed 
and natural secretion, which being absorbed by the blood, 
and acting as a poison, produces inflammation in the sheaths 
of the tendons, and of the fibrous parts or tissue. 

Treatment. The treatment of acute rheumatism is some- 
times unsatisfactory; not that it is incurable, but from the 
fact that the medicines which frequently cure one will not 
cure other cases. 

Give twenty-five drops of the tincture of aconite root 
every four hours, till six doses are given. Place the horse 
in a cool, airy place, with plenty of bedding under him, so 
as to induce him to lie down ; then lightly cover the body 
and apply cold water swabs or loose cloths to the legs, 
keeping them continually wet, from twelve to twenty- 
four hours. In winter, warm water will answer best. By 
the time the six doses of aconite have been taken, a great 
change for the better will have taken place ; so much so, 
that, in many cases, the horse may be left to nature to 
complete the cure. But, on the other hand, should the 
disease take a chronic form, give drachm doses of the pow- 
dered meadow saffron seeds twice in the day, and occasional 
doses of sixty drops of sulphuric acid in half a bucket of 
cold water. Half ounce doses of the sulphite of soda may 
be given as an alkali. Do not bleed or purge. 

(2.) Chronic Rheumatism. — I have no hesitation in 
saying that chronic rheumatism in a joint is one of the 



186 DISEASES OP THE HORSE. 

most prolific causes of occult or hidden lameness in horses ; 
while this is so, when there are no swellings to point to as 
a proof of the correctness of your opinion, many will 
question your judgment. But it is with this, as with 
many things in the world — time only being required for a 
thorough development of the fact. 

Treatment of Chronic Rheumatism. Give a few doses of 
aconite root, followed by the colchicum or saifron seeds, the 
sulphuric acid and the alkaline, as is recommended in 
acute rheumatism, but not pushing them to such an ac- 
tive extent. A liniment may be applied to the rheumatic 
joint or joints composed of chloroform and olive oil, equal 
parts, to be used once a day, with friction by the hand. 
One part of the tincture of aconite root, may, in addition, 
be used to advantage with the chloroform. 

(3.) Rheumatism. — Accompanying Diseases of the 
Throat. This combination is often met with, which is due 
to the fact that the same serous or fibrous tissue or mem- 
brane is affected in each of the diseases. Nevertheless, we 
do not see cases of throat disease following rheumatism ; 
from which we derive the fact that those membranes are 
not capable of reflecting upwards and backwards their 
sympathy or feeling, as the nerves of the body are. So, 
therefore, I am inclined to the belief that rheumatism in 
this form, is the effect of disease in the throat, and not a 
cause of the disease. 

Treatment. Cure the disease in the throat, and the 
rheumatism will be deprived of its cause and support. 
(See Influenza and Gastritis Mucosa.) 

King-Bone. — This is a serious affection, and consists 
of a circle of bone thrown out from the underlying bone. 
Sometimes, in addition to this, the cartilages of the foot are 
converted into bone, and laid in the form of a circle ; and 



EOAEING. 187 

hence its name, ring-bone. It is most common in the fore 
legs of heavy, coarse-bred herses, with short and straight 
up pastern-joints. When it occurs in fine-bred horses, it 
is usually the hind leg which is affected. Ring-bone does 
not always cause lameness. 

Cause. Hereditary predisposition, from a peculiar for- 
mation of pastern-joints, which are found not well adapted 
to hard work ; and hence, an effort of nature is set up to 
strengthen parts which are too weak, by converting an 
elastic substance into a hard and unyielding mass, and a 
moving hinge into a fixture. 

Treatment. If it is of recent origin, and the horse is 
young, much maybe done in the way of a cure, by first 
removing all heat and inflammation with cold water cloths 
wrapped round the parts for three days, taking them off 
at night. At the end of that time, get one drachm of the 
bin-iodide of mercury, mix with one ounce of lard, and 
apply one-half of the salve by rubbing it in well for ten 
minutes. Tie up the horse's head for a few hours, and 
the next day wash off with soap and warm water, daily 
anointing the parts with lard or oil for a week ; then apply 
the remainder of the salve in the same way, and proceed 
as before. In old horses, not much can be done with ring- 
bone, as the bones of old animals contain so much earthy 
(lime) matter that nothing can act upon it. 

Ringworm. — (See Skin Diseases.) 

Roaring. — A noise made by some horses when put to 
work. There are many different sounds produced from 
the same cause, and they are incurable, except when de- 
pending upon the presence of tumors, which can be 
removed. Roaring can be relieved somewhat by placing 
pads over the faulty nostril. When very bad, an operation 



188 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

called tracheotomy — an opening into the windpipe, and 
keeping a silver tube inserted in it — is sometimes resorted 
to. By this means, a draught horse can be kept at work 
for many years. 

Bound. Bone. — (See Hip-joint.) 

Rowels. — An old-fashioned operation, consisting in an 
opening made through the skin for a few inches in length, 
the skin being raised from its attachments, and a piece of 
leather fitting the cavity placed into it, so that a discharge 
is set up in a day or two. Times were when this unneces- 
sary cruelty was frequently inflicted upon the poor un- 
offending horse, but in this humane and progressive age, 
we only occasionally meet with the barbarity. Rowels are 
an abomination, and inflict a scar or blemish, which never 
leaves the part. The stupidity and ignorance of horse 
doctors generally, do not allow them to see that the powers 
of nature are more potent for good in curing the affection 
than a rowel — to which is attributed a power or virtue it 
never possesses. If I should put in a rowel, it would not 
be with the view of curing disease or sprain, but simply 
to secure the horse plenty of time in the stable, so that 
nature could cure the disease herself. 

Ruptures. — The protrusion of some portion of the 
bowels or intestines out of their proper place. The groin, 
the navel, sides of the belly, and scrotum, or testicle bag, 
are the places where ruptures usually show themselves, 
and it is the variety of situation that gives rise to the 
many species of rupture or hernia. 

(1.) Inguinal Rupture. — In the United States, the 
horses are mostly all castrated, which fact accounts for the 
rare occurrence of this variety of rupture. The operation 
of castration completely closes the inguinal ring or opening 



RUPTURES. 189 

through which pass the spermatic cord, testes, etc., thus 
preventing the possibility of rupture in that direction. 
When this kind of rupture takes place, it is in stallions 
and uncastrated colts, and requires for its cure the castra- 
tion of the horse or colt by what is called the covered opera- 
tion, that is, by leaving the tunica vaginalis, or inner 
covering of the testes entire and uncut, and placing the 
clamps over it, allowing the testes or stones to fall off, or 
be removed in two days from the time of operation. As 
soon as this kind of rupture is observed, have the horse or 
colt castrated at once. 

(2.) Scrotal Rupture. — This variety of rupture, en- 
tirely confined to the testicle bag, or scrotal sac, is also the 
affection of uncut horses, and is caused by relaxation of 
the fibrous tissue around the inguinal ring. This is a kind 
of rupture which comes and goes, as if it were an inter- 
mittent affection. The rupture, or large swelling, during 
rest will entirely disappear, and return during exercise, 
sometimes with violence, throwing the horse, perhaps, into 
a fit of colic, and inducing strangulation and death of the 
horse. Scrotal rupture is sometimes confined to one side 
only of the scrotum. If in time the animal should not die 
from" strangulation of the bowel, the rupture will some- 
times increase to an enormous size, hanging far down, and 
filling up the space in and between the hind legs. 

Treatment. The same as for inguinal hernia. Of course, 
in both cases, care should first be taken to push back the 
bowels through the ring into the belly, before removing 
the testicles. Scrotal rupture should not be confounded 
with hydrocele, or water in the scrotal sac. (See Dropsy.) 

(3.) Congenital Rupture. — This is a species of rup- 
ture observed at the birth of the foal or colt, and is the 
least dangerous of all the varieties of ruptures, although 



190 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

the rupture continues to grow and increase in size until 
the fourth to the sixth month of the colt's age, and then 
gradually and progressively disappears altogether. If, 
however, it should not at the end of that time diminish in 
size and volume, a tolerably stout and tight collar or 
bandage may be placed around the body, covering the 
rupture. This baud should be kept in place by a broad 
collar or cloth attached to each side of the body bandage, 
and passing in front of the breast, with another round the 
back parts of the hips — thus preventing a backward or 
forward movement of the body bandage. 

If rupture should occur in a few days after the birth of 
the colt, it should, to all intents and purposes, be classed 
as congenital rupture, and be treated accordingly. 

Congenital rupture is the same as what is called by 
some writers umbilical rupture, which is correct as far as 
it goes; but congenital rupture includes not only the navel, 
but the scrotal also. The navel variety can be most suc- 
cessfully treated by letting it alone; or, in some cases, by 
the application of a bandage. When, however, in the 
scrotum, castration is the only cure, and a bandage in this 
case would not only be useless, but hurtful to the colt. 

(4.) Ventral Rupture. — This is when the bowel pro- 
trudes through any part of the belly, excepting at the 
umbilicus or navel, or any natural opening, and is generally 
the result of injury or accident, as from a hook from the 
horn of a cow, or the kick of a horse. The common place 
where this kind of rupture is usually seen, is on the lower 
portion of the belly, between the ribs and at the flanks 

Symptoms. A large, puffy swelling which can be lessened 
in size and forced into the cavity of the belly again, by 
merely pressing against it. The skin will be loose when 
the bowel is thus pushed in ; and when the pressure has 



RUPTURES. 191 

ceased, the enlargement or swelling returns at once, and 
fills up the loose skin. 

Treatment. In most cases, let the enlargement alone; 
as, in nearly all instances, no inconvenience from it will be 
experienced by the horse. The only way to reduce such a 
rupture is, by gathering and holding the loose skin, and 
covering the rupture after the bowel has been pushed into 
its place, by means of long clamps, like a long vise, till the 
skin falls off. This cure is worse than the affection it is 
intended to remedy ; for by breaking the skin the bowels 
are exposed to the air and the uncertainty of the edges of 
the skin uniting firmly together. This is frequently, also, 
more than can be expected, as the horse is not a rational 
being, and cannot be told to stand this or that way, in this 
or that position. If he experiences any pain, he will 
become restless, and lie down, and roll ; and then what of 
the nicely adjusted clamps ? In short, the horse will die 
in a few hours. 

(5.) Rupture. — Of Castration. This variety of rupture 
sometimes follows immediately, or a few days, after the 
operation of castration. 

Causes. When the rupture occurs as soon as the horse 
rises from the operation, it is produced by the violence of 
the struggling, or rising with too much of a jerk. When 
occurring a few days after the operation, the cause may be 
laid to the wound not healing and uniting properly. 

Symptoms. As in colic; the horse rising, lying down, 
pawing, rolling, sweating ; high fever and inflammation; 
and, finally, gangrene, or mortification of the parts, and 
death of the horse. 

General Remarks. The termination of ruptures of all 
kinds and varieties most to be dreaded, is that condition 
known as strangulation, which occurrence is indicated by 



192 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

the pawing, rolling, sweating and restive condition of the 
horse, etc. If not relieved in a very short time, he will 
die. To reduce strangulation, he must be secured, and 
fastened ; and all conceivable ingenuity must be exercised 
to get the bowels back into their proper place. No rule 
can be laid down to accomplish this, as some ruptures are 
reducible, and others are not. But the hands of the 
operator must be well oiled when handling the bowels, and 
the bowels kept scrupulously clean ; and when they have 
been successfully placed into their proper cavity, the horse 
will be at rest, and relieved from pain. To prevent the 
bowels from returning again, the rupture must be closed by 
skewers made of iron, or stiff wood, passed through the 
lips of each side of the wound, half an inch from the edge, 
with waxed cord wound round and over the skewers, in 
the form of the figure 8. 

Metallic or silver wire is used by scientific veterinary 
surgeons in securing the edges of the skin of ruptures and 
injuries to the belly of all domestic animals, as the best and 
most successful plan. 

Ruptures of the stomach, bowels and diaphragm, are 
occasionally the immediate cause of death in cases of colic. 
(See Hock, etc.) 



NEEDLE WITH FIXED HANDLE. 




NEEDLE ARMED WITH WIRE. 

Saddle Galls. — Sores produced by the saddle and 
other portions of the harness, and are best treated by the 



SALIVATION. 193 

compound tincture of aloes. When the sores become hard 
and firm, like warts, use the ointment of iodide of mercury. 
(See Medicines and Prescriptions.) Remove the cause of 
the trouble by attending to the saddle and harness; and if 
no fault be found with the stuffing of the saddle, cut a hole 
in the padding sufficiently large to accommodate the sore 
without touching it. 

Sallenders.— (See Mallenders.) 

Saliva. — A fluid secreted by the salivary glands, which 
serves to moisten the mouth, and is swallowed with the 
food. When horses are feeding, the saliva mixes with the 
feed, and resolves, dissolves, and changes it into a soft mass 
fit to be swallowed. (See Parotid Duct.) 

Salivation. — This is an increased flow of saliva in- 
duced in the horse by mercury and other medicines, and is 
often seen in horses feeding upon the second crop of clover 
late in the fall of the year, or after slight frosts ; which 
fact sufficiently accounts not only for the salivation of, but 
also affords the reason why horses so feeding lose flesh and 
become thin and weak, although apparently feeding upon 
abundance. 

Second crop clover grows fast, is soft, and full of moisture, 
while the cool nights arrest its mush room growth, and the 
moisture it contains in great quantity is converted from a 
sweet and nutritious substance into a sour and acidulous 
fluid, not unlike vinegar or acetic acid. The acid so formed 
within the clover leaf and stem is pressed out by the act 
of mastication or chewing, stimulating the fauces of the 
mouth and the salivary glands to a great extent and taxing 
the substance of the body for the saliva to meet an enor- 
mous demand. Hence, the weakness and loss of flesh of 
horses so fed. 
13 



194 DISEASES OF THE HOESE. 

Sand Cracks. — (See Foot Diseases.) 

Sanious Pus. — Pus mixed with water and blood ;— 
unhealthy pus. 

Scalds. — (See Burns.) 

Scald Mouth. — (See Mouth Diseases.) 

Scarlatina. — A disease newly discovered in light- 
colored horses, attended by sore throat, as in man, and 
with slight fever and dry skin — the glands of the neck are 
slightly swollen, and in about two days the lining mem- 
branes within the nose and lips become studded with scarlet 
spots about the size of a garden pea, which run together. 
In light bay horses will be seen patches from which the 
hair falls off and is replaced by a coat of a lighter color, 
thus making the animal look as if he had had an attack 
of varioloid or small-pox. Scarlatina is an eruptive fever, 
running a fixed and definite course, and is closely allied to 
purpura, influenza and strangles, (all of which see.) 

Treatment. Place the horse in a cool place, and give 
small doses of aconite, followed by gentian and carbonate 
of ammonia. In a few days iron may be added. (See 
Medicines.) 

Scratches. — (See Grease, Phagadena, and Frost Bites.) 

Schirrus. — Pronounced skirrus, and signifying indura- 
tion or hardening of any structure, but now used only 
when speaking of cancer. 

Scouring. — (See Diarrhoea.) 

Scrotum. — The bag or skin covering the testicles of 
the stallion, which is the seat of large watery swellings, as 
a sequel to debilitating disease, or disease treated by 
starving, bleeding, etc. If the swelling does not grow less 



SEEOUS ABSCESS. 195 

after extra feed is allowed, and a few iron powders are 
given, the scrotum will have to be opened a little on both 
sides to allow the fluid to flow out. Do not mistake the 
swelling for scrotal rupture. (See Ruptures.) 

Scurf. — A scaly eruption on the skin of badly-groomed 
and cared-for horses. It is cured by good grooming, good 
feeding, and, in some cases, a change in stabling. 

Secretion. — The product secreted or separated from 
the blood. Secreted products are of two kinds: 

(1.) Excretion, or matter separated by animal bodies, 
and thrown off on account of their noxious or effete 
qualities. Examples — the urine, the dung, sweat, and 
carbonic acid gas from the lungs. 

(2.) Secretion is matter separated from the blood for 
further use, and for the performance of various actions in 
the living system. Examples — bile, saliva, etc. 

Sedatives, — Medicines which lessen pain, and should, 
therefore, be called calmatives. Aconite is the most cer- 
tain and successful sedative and calmative we have to offer, 
and will seldom disappoint the highest expectations, if 
used properly, and in good time. 

Serum. —The thin, colorless fluid which separates 
from the blood. 

Serous Abscess. — A variety of abscess seen usually 
about the breasts of horses. It arises from injury followed 
by the pouring of a serum from the blood into the injured 
part, which, not being absorbed readily, remains there in 
the form of a large ovoid flattened bag. A blind man, 
who never saw a tumor, could tell that it contained fluid. 
Indeed, wherever dropsical swellings are not absorbed, a 
serous abscess will be formed. 



196 DISEASES OF THE HOESE. 

Treatment. Open it with a knife, making a large- open- 
ing through the skin, only at the lowest soft part, so the 
serum will run out without pressing. Inject once or twice 
with cold water, and anoint the skin with lard to prevent 
it from cracking or becoming dry. 

Seton. — A piece of tape placed under the skin by 
means of a needle, made for the purpose. Setons are rare- 
ly of use, and are often torn violently out, making an ugly 
sore. 

Shivers. — So called because the horse is seized with 
tremor of the muscles of the whole body, when any attempt 
is made to push him back. The tail is erect as in cases 
of locked-jaw. 

Causes. Tumors on the ventricles of the brain. 

Shoeing of Sound Feet. — Most diseases of the feet, 
and every stumble, are, either directly or indirectly, the 
result of bad shoeing. Horse-shoers have long been in 
the habit of using the knife and rasp too freely to keep 
feet sound very long so. When the shoe is carefully re- 
moved, the wall or crust, where a well seated shoe should 
only rest, should be gently rasped to remove fragments of 
loose horn and old nails. In deep, well-made feet, the 
sole requires paring out till it is in the form of a cup, but 
not too thin — the bearing surface, or wall, to be made 
level for the new shoe. This is all that is required in a 
sound foot. The frog must be left to fill its functions. 
Above all, do not let the rasp be used upon the surface of 
the foot, for it is the skin of the hoof, and by its removal 
you expose it to every change in moisture and dryness, 
and leave it weak, dry, porous and brittle. 

The shoe should be a plain one, equally broad and wide 
from heel to toe, and put on without seating ; for why 



SHOULDER LAMENESS. 197 

bring a concave foot in contact with a concave shoe? The 
toe should be slightly turned up, and not too short at the 
heels. The hind shoes should be provided with heels. 

The nail holes should be three on the outside, and two 
on the inside, and made straight through the iron, and not 
incline inwards, and the shoe fitted to the foot, and not the 
foot to the shoe. 

Dray horses should be shod with tips, or toes and heels, 
which secure firmness of tread, and greater power when 
drawing heavy loads, especially in cities with smooth paved 
streets. 

Shoeing Unsound Feet. — Feet with corns, weak, flat 
feet, con vexed sole, and sand or quarter cracked feet, should 
have shoes well-seated : and it is advisable to throw some 
extra weight upon the frog, for which purpose a bar-shoe 
should be used. (See Foot Diseases.) Leather soles are 
useful in weak-soled feet when the horse steps high and is 
much used upon city streets. One-sided nailing answers 
well for weak heels. Ring-boned animals should be shod 
with easy fitting shoes, to avoid jarring. Horses having a 
tendency to navicular or coffin-joint disease should have 
shoes turned up a little at the toe, with the ground surface 
of the wall well cut away, and the sole and frog untouched. 
The art of shoeing horses consists in fitting a shoe to the 
foot of a horse, for the purpose of protecting, and, at the 
same time, not injuring it. 

Shoulder Lameness. — This is produced by a slip, or 
side-fall, and is frequent with horses in cities having broad 
rails laid on the streets for railroad purposes. In wet 
weather these rails are very slippery; hence the horse has 
no foot-hold, the leg is stretched far out before the animal, 
and the muscles of the shoulders, and in some cases, the 



198 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

shoulder-joint is involved. A raueh more serious affair 
than simple shoulder sprain is the result. 

Shoulder lameness is common to young horses when 
ploughing in the furrow. 

Symptoms. The absence, of heat tenderness, and swel ling 
in any other part of the leg or foot. Always find out 
with certainty where there is no lameness and the situation 
of lameness will very soon be apparent. Negative and 
positive symptoms should always be well considered before 
coming to a' final conclusion, as by doing so the situation 
or trouble is so narrowed down that a mistake can scarcely 
occur. Shoulder lameness, however, is known by the horse 
stepping longer with the lame leg, and shorter with the 
sound one; and, excepting in very severe cases, the horse 
will not only point the leg out from the body, but carry it 
also to the side of the body. Now, in most sprains and 
diseases in the foot, the leg will be pointed straight out 
without any side position. Take the leg which is lame by 
the pastern, and gently carry, or pull it straight out from 
the body of the horse in front, and gently also to the out- 
side ; if it be shoulder lameness, the horse will not only 
show evidences of pain, but will in many cases, depending 
upon the spirit and animation of the horse, get up from the 
ground with the sound leg and endeavor to wrest the lame 
leg from you. 

In very severe cases, when occurring from a bruise, the 
horse will stand on his toe, which is evidence of contusion 
of the shoulder. 

Treatment. Absolute and entire rest, warm water cloths 
applied for two days, followed by cold water cloths, in the 
same way, and for as many days. Then a slight blister of 
the Spanish fly may be rubbed into the skin of the shoulder, 
taking care that none of it is put on at the situation of the 



SHOULDER- JOINT LAMENESS. 199 

collar, as it would render the part a little tender for a 
while by friction from the collar. Take Spanish fly in 
powder, one drachm ; hog's lard, six drachms ; mix, and 
make an ointment, or salve, and rub the better half of it 
into the skin. Next day wash off with warm water, (not 
hot,) and when dry from washing, anoint the blistered parts 
with oil or lard, daily, for a week. It is not advisable to 
put horses to work, or even exercise, too soon after getting 
well from lameness. 

Shoulder-joint Lameness. — This is a more serious 

form of lameness than sprain of the muscles of the shoulder. 
It consists in the softening of the articular cartilages of 
the joint, with inflammation of the joint membranes, and 
great secretion of unhealthy synovia, (joint oil) producing 
bulging of the ligaments, (capsular,) and covering the joint. 
It can be detected by making the horse stand upon the 
lame limb, and by holding up the other one. This is a 
disease similar to spavin in the hock -joint, which accounts 
for the unsatisfactory results of treatment. 

Symptoms. The horse drags his toe, and throws his leg 
out at every movement of the limb. 

Treatment. As before stated, this is rather unsatisfactory, 
from the fact that the cartilages are likely to be destroyed, 
and the bone underneath apt to become ulcerated ; but if 
taken in time, much good can be done. In many cases, a 
cure can be effected by the ointment of red iodide of 
mercury, well rubbed in once a week, for a few times. 

Take of bin-iodide of mercury, two drachms ; hog's lard, 
two ounces. Mix well on the bottom of a dinner plate, or a 
smooth slate, with a table knife. Of this ointment take 
one-fourth and rub well into the joint, tying up the horse's 
head for a few hours, to prevent his getting at the shoulder 
with his mouth ; allow soft bedding for the front feet to 



200 DISEASES OP THE HORSE. 

stand upon, as the horse will stamp with his foot on the 
floor — for the action of this ointment is considered to be 
as painful as the hot iron, for about half an hour from 
the time it begins to act till the parts commence to swell 
from its splendid effects. Hence, firing irons are now not 
much used, except in the hands of old fogies. Daily, oil 
or grease the parts for a week, then apply as before, and 
remember, that to get all the benefit of this ointment, it 
must be well rubbed in the parts. 

Side Bones. — A species of ring-bone; only the side 
cartilages of the foot are converted into bone, and do not, 
as in ring-bone, extend round the coronet, or portion 
immediately above the hoof. The cause and treatment 
are the same as in ring-bone, (which see.) 

SinilS. — A long, narrow and ulcerated track, commu- 
nicating either with the inside of an abscess or diseased 
bone. (See Fistula and Poll-evil.) 

Sitfasts. — These are hard and insensible tumors, 
sometimes called warbles, and are caused by undue pres- 
sure from the harness. 

Treatment. Rub in, about the size of a bean, of the 
ointment of red iodide of mercury. (See Prescriptions and 
Medicines.) 

Skeleton of the Horse, Bones of the. — The skele- 
ton is composed of two hundred and forty-seven separate 
bones, which are united by joints to form the spine, 
thorax, pelvis, tail, and fore and hind extremities. The 
spine is finished anteriorly by the head, which is divided 
into the cranium and face, and contains the teeth. Sus- 
pended from the head is the os hyoides, which completes 
the number of bones. Thus : — 



SKIN DISEASES. 201 

The spine consists of 7 cervical, 18 dorsal, and 6 lum- 
bar vertebrae — Total 31 

The thorax is made up of the dorsal vertebrae, with 
18 ribs on each side, and the sternum in the middle 

—Total 37 

The pelvis comprises 2 ossa innominata (or ilium, 

ischium, and pubes), and 1 sacrum — Total ... 3 
The tail contains on the average 17 bones .... 17 
The fore extremity is made up on each side of the 
scapula, humerus, os brachii, and 8 carpal bones, 3 
metacarpal, os suffraginis, os coronse, os pedis, os 
naviculare, 2 ossa sesamoidea — Total on both sides 40 
The hind extremity has the femur, patella, tibia, 
fibula, 6 tarsal bones, 3 metatarsals, os suffraginis, 
os coronse, os pedis, os naviculare, 2 ossa sesamoidea 

—Total 38 

Bones of the cranium 10 

Bones of the face and lower jaw 18 

Teeth 40 

Bones of the internal ear, 4 in each organ .... 8 
Os Hyoides, or bone of the tongue, made up of five 
sections . . 5 



Grand total .... 247 

Skin Diseases. — There are many and apparently 
different varieties of skin diseases described by writers, 
many of which are the same, and produced by the same 
cause, but present different appearances in different animals, 
and in different stages and conditions of the affection. 
Where the same cause can be properly assigned in pro- 
ducing different diseases, although apparently dissimilar, 
the treatment must be the same. Thus, if the acari is the 
cause of more than one kind of skin disease, of course the 



202 DISEASES OF THE HOESE. 

treatment must be directed to the destruction or removal 
of this insect or mite, before a cure can be effected ; so, 
also, with faulty assimilation or digestion, which so often 
gives rise to skin disease, and which must be improved and 
corrected before the effect, (disease,) will cease and be cured. 

(1.) Baldness. — Parts of the skin of the horse become 
denuded of the hair, occasioned by minute or small pim- 
ples, which usually contain a fluid, and burst, or break, 
carrying the hair with it. These pimples, or small tumors, 
however, aresometimes vesicular, sometimes papular, and 
sometimes scaly. They are caused by faulty digestion, 
and should be treated by soft feed, or fresh-cut grass. 
The hair will grow again. 

Baldness is caused by scalds, burns, and blisters; and 
where the true skin is not entirely destroyed, the hair can 
be restored by using a weak ointment of iodine — iodine, 
half a drachm ; hog's lard, eight drachms; mix and apply 
by rubbing with the hand, once every third day, till there 
are evidences of a growth of hair springing up. Gun- 
powder and lard have no more power in causing hair to 
grow, than as much lard, saltpetre, sulphur and charcoal 
would have ; nor is it to be compared to the iodine, 
because, if iodine does not restore the hair in all cases, it 
will certainly dye or stain the skin a dark color, which 
cannot be washed off; and hence, in dark-skinned horses, 
is of much use in removing the bare, bald-look of a white 
spot. 

(2.) Mange, Itch, Psora, or Scabies. 

Cause. The result of an insect breeding and burrowing 
in the skin, and is called acari, a variety of mite or 
animalcule. 

Symptoms. At first, a fine crop of pustules, not at this 
time always seen, about the head and neck, and under the 



SKIN DISEASES. 203 

mane. By the horse rubbing himself against whatever he 
can get at, the hair falls off, and exposes an angry and 
red-colored skin, with red points and lines, fissures, 
wrinkles, or scratches. After this condition, we have 
dryness, scruffiness, baldness, and whitening of the skin, 
accompanied with great itchiness. 

Treatment. The best plan for curing this disease in 
horses is as follows : Take fine sea-sand, such as is used 
by stable-men for scouring steel bits, and rub the affected 
parts well for a few minutes. Then wash the parts well 
with good soap and water, and a brush, after which dry 
them carefully. Then anoint with the following ointment : 
Powdered sulphur, one ounce; hog's lard, two ounces; 
mix. The following is more cleanly : Liver of sulphur, 
or hepar of sulphur, two to three ounces; cold water, one 
quart ; mix, and make a wash. This plan, with either of 
these mixtures properly applied, will not only kill the 
insect, but will effect a cure. This disease has baffled 
many who have attempted its cure without first reaching 
the insect, by scouring him out of his covering, and kill- 
ing him with sulphur — a highly destructive article to par- 
asitic life. 

Observe. This disease is contagious. Stall-posts, man- 
gers, harness, combs, brushes, etc., used about the horse, 
should be subjected to great heat either by boiling or 
steaming. Trees, gates, and rubbing-posts in the field, 
should be washed with water, and coated with a mixture 
of sulphur, lime and water. 

(3.) Eczema. — This is an affection peculiar to some 
horses during the summer months. By close inspection, 
large numbers of minute elevations, or raised parts, closely 
joining each other, and filled with a watery fluid, will be 
observed; the skin will soon present a red and angry look, 



204 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

the hair be short and dry, accompanied with extreme 
itchiness — so much so, sometimes, that horses so affected 
become almost unmanageable. The situation of this dis- 
ease is usually in the hind legs, and is considered hereditary. 
At all events, when a horse is once attacked by it, it is 
liable to return again with the warm weather. 

Cause. A peculiar condition of the blood, developed 
by heat. 

Treatment. This disease in my hands, in several car- 
riage horses which were rendered completely useless in the 
summer months, has not only been cured, but also pre- 
vented from returning, by the administering of half ounce 
doses of the sulphite of soda, for two weeks previous to 
the hot weather, once a day. In addition to this, a few 
bundles of fresh grass, cut from the borders of several 
gardens, were given. The soda, designed to neutralize 
ferments in the blood ; and the fresh cut grass to assist, 
by its action on the stomach and bowels, and ultimately 
upon the blood itself. 

(4.) Surfeit. — A disease making its appearance in the 
spring of the year in fat horses that are short and well 
built. It is characterized by tumors about the size of a 
grain of Indian corn, covering the whole body as com- 
pletely as the nettle-rash does that of children, and does 
not generally cause itching, nor is it, like some skin dis- 
eases, contagious. 

Cause. Robust stamina. 

Treatment. Give soft or slop feed composed of bran, 
cut hay, cold water, and salt, for a few days. Give grass, 
if it can be had, without any additional feed. A few 
doses of the sulphite of soda will be of advantage. 

Bleeding and purging have arrested the tumors in their 
growth, but unfortunately they become permanent fixtures, 



SLOUGH. 205 

only to be removed by calomel and opium, which cause 
their absorption. In this event take calomel, thirty grains; 
opium, ten grains; mix, and give once a day, for a week 
or ten days. Good feeding will have to be given. 

Ringworm. — Porrigo, and Favus, are names given to 
this disease. 

Symptoms. Small circular patches, or scales, sometimes 
running together, forming large crusts and ulcers under 
them, in which insects breed. This is a contagious disease, 
and is communicated from man to animals, and animals 
to man. The microscope has shown the presence of fungi 
in the scab of ringworm, but whether it be merely the 
effect of the disease, or otherwise, is not at present known. 
It is, however, more likely to be the cause. 

Treatment. Wash and keep the parts clean, and aim at 
destroying the fungi. For this purpose remove the scab 
as soon as formed, and apply a solution of oxalic acid to 
the surface, using fifteen grains of the acid to an ounce of 
water. Tar ointment, creosote, sulphur, and mercury, 
have all been tried ; but none of these meet with so much 
success as the solution of oxalic acid, just recommended. 
For other diseases of the skin, see Grease, Mallenders, 
Sallenders, Tumors, and Boils. 

Slobbering. — This is traceable in horses to a variety 
of causes. We may enumerate large doses of aconite, or 
veratrum ; also, sore, or scald mouth, and in some cases 
poisoning. Slobbering from eating second crop clover, 
will be found treated of under the article Salivation, 
(which see.) 

Slough. — The separation of a diseased or dead part 
from the healthy portion. A slough may be of greater or 
less thickness, and may include the skin and flesh to a 



206 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

considerable depth — as from the centre of an abscess. (See 
Gangrene and Mortification.) 

Sores. — Healthy and unhealthy sores occur in, or on, 
all parts of the body of the horse. Healthy sores are best 
treated by the tincture of aloes, or myrrh, or simple oint- 
ment. (See Medicines and Prescriptions.) Unhealthy 
sores should be treated, first, by the application of some 
caustic, or powdered blue stone, nitrate of silver, or caustic 
potassa, which will make an unhealthy sore a simple and 
healthy one. To be treated as the above. 

Sore Mouth. — (See Mouth Diseases.) 

Sore Foot. — (See Foot Diseases.) 

Sore Throat. — (See Catarrh, Cold, and Bronchitis.) 

Sore Back. — Re-stuff the saddle, and apply the tinc- 
ture of aloes or myrrh. 

Sore Shoulders. — See to the collar, and apply as in 
sore back. 

Sore Neck. — A variety of this disease presents itself 
about the place where the collar usually rests and presses 
when descending a hill in double team. It is very 
troublesome, and difficult to heal, if the horse is kept at 
work, and causes great irritation and uneasiness. Fre- 
quently, when the hand is laid upon it, the horse, if he be 
a spirited animal, will plunge in the stall, and even kick, 
however quiet he may be at other times. 

Treatment. Apply simple ointment, and place a firm, 
but strong piece of leather over it, so that the collar, when 
put on, can rest upon and slide over it, instead of upon the 
mane and neck. 

Soundness. — This is when a horse has nothing about 



SPAVIN. 207 

him, that does or is likely to interfere with his feeding, 
working, and general usefulness. 

Spavin. — A variety of disease affecting the hock -joint. 
Spavin is not now looked upon as in the days of Oliver 
Goldsmith and William Shakspeare, because in the minds 
of those distinguished men, and of some of their readers 
of the present time, spavin is an enormous enlargement of 
the hock of the horse; whereas, in some of the worse 
forms of spavin, there is no enlargement at all, while the 
hock-joint is completely destroyed, stiff, or anchylosed. 
Shakspeare thus refers to Petruchio's horse : — " His horse 
hipped with an old mothy saddle, the stirrups of no kin- 
dred ; besides possessed with the glanders, and, like to 
mose in the chine, troubled with the lampas, infected with 
the fashions, full of wind galls, sped with spavins, rayed 
with the yellows, past cure of the fives, stark spoiled with 
the staggers, begnawn with the bots, swayed in the back, 
and shoulder shotten, ne'er legged before, and with a 
half-cheeked bit, and a head stall of sheep's leather." 

(1.) Bog Spavin. — This kind of spavin is situated in 
front of the hock -joint, and is a soft, fluctuating swelling, 
which rarely ever causes lameness. It is merely an 
enlargement or distention of the bursal cavity of the joint, 
and is filled with the natural fluid of the joint, but in- 
creased in quantity, and possibly, in some cases, a little 
changed in quality also. 

(2.) Blood Spavin. — This is the same as bog spavin, 
but more extensive, and generally involving the hock-joint 
on its three sides, front, inside, and outside, and giving to 
the limb a thick, rounded appearance, called thorough-pin, 
(which see.) The swelling is soft and fluctuating, and 
indeed there is no perceptible difference in the nature and 
result of this form of spavin and the preceding variety, 



208 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

beyond its being more extensive, interfering, perhaps, with 
the flow of blood in the sub-cutaneous (under the skin) 
vein, which is seen in front, and partly to the side of the 
joint, adding very little to the general swelling. 

Causes. Hard work and fast driving, especially when 
horses are young. 

Treatment. The application of the ointment of red 
iodide of mercury, in the hands of some, has done much 
good ; but the enlargement is apt to return when the horse 
is again put to work, from the fact that more joint-oil, or 
fluid is poured out. Acupuncturatiou, or forcing small 
steel instruments into the swelling to let out the fluid, is 
sometimes resorted to, after which a bandage or truss is 
fitted to the part to press out the fluid that remains, and to 
cause the adhesion of the parts together. The difficulty in 
curing soft spavin, is the danger of opening into a cavity 
or joint containing oil (synovia). An old way of treating 
such disease, is by striking the parts with a mallet, so as to 
break the skin, that the fluid can escape ; the blow given 
to the skin is so great as to set up adhesive inflamma- 
tion, and a closure of the opening. 

(3.) Bone Spavin. — Consists in the sprouting out of 
irregular bony matter from the bones of the joint, 
preventing their smooth and proper action over one an- 
other, and causing lameness. This bony growth sometimes 
attains a good size, and in some cases we find one or two 
of the bones only involved; in others nearly all of them 
are affected. The situation of bone spavin is on the inside, 
and in front of the joint. 

Symptoms. When horses are what is called breeding 
bone spavin, ordinarily persons think and say the lameness 
is in the hip, (see Hock) from the action which is reflected 
by the muscles of the hip at every movement made by the 



SPEEDY CUT. 209 

hock -joint, and from the fact that there is no enlargement 
as yet in the joint. The horse is lame on starting, but 
gets better after a little while, and after standing will start 
lame again. In the stable, he shifts one hind leg after 
another, and when resting the lame leg, he stands on the 
toe. Pain and lameness cease when the joint is consoli- 
dated, although remaining a little stiff. 

(4.) Occult Spavin. — This is a disease similar to bone 
spavin, the difference being that there is no enlargement 
of the joint whatever, although the bones of the joint are 
all diseased, immovable and stiff. This seems to puzzle 
and perplex horsemen, because they cannot comprehend a 
bone spavin without an enlargement of the joint outside; 
and, consequently, the poor horse is sometimes blistered 
and tormented in every part of the leg but the right place. 
The cause, results, and effects of this disease are the same 
as in bone spavin, excepting that there is no enlargement. 

Treatment. For the two varieties of spavin, just de- 
scribed, the treatment should be the same. In young 
horses, the red iodide of mercury in ointment, is the proper 
treatment. One drachm of bin-iodide of mercury, and 
one ounce of lard. Mix, and apply once in a week, and 
lard the parts once a day, till the next application. 

Old horses should have a liniment applied, once every 
second day, to the parts. Oil of cloves, two ounces ; oil 
of turpentine, one ounce ; creosote, one ounce ; mix. This 
will relieve the pain, and to a great degree the lameness. 
Spavined horses should have an extra allowance of feed, 
to keep them in condition equal to their more healthy and 
fortunate neighbors. 

Specks On the Eye. — (See Eye Diseases.) 

Speedy Cut. — This is an injury to the knee from the 
14 



210 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

shoe of the opposite fore-foot, and is prevented by driving 
slower, and nailing the shoe on one side only. 

Treatment. Apply cold water cloths, and if the swell- 
ing does not all go away, follow with the application of 
the red iodide of mercury, in the form of an ointment, 
once a week, for a few times, and lard or grease the parts 
till the next application. Boots are sometimes used as a 
preventative. 

Spleen Diseases. — The diseases of this organ are 
obscure, and chiefly consist of enlargements, tubercles, soft- 
ening, rupture, and tumors. The symptoms attending 
these affections are not well marked. 

Splint. — A small bony enlargement, situated usually 
on the inside of the fore-legs, about midway between the 
knee and the pastern joint. When splint begins to grow, 
it sometimes produces lameness by stretching the covering 
of the bone, which, however, soon accommodates itself to 
the altered structure. 

Cause. Working horses when too young, and before 
the leg and splint bone have become united. Hence, 
splints disappear when the horse grows older, and the unity 
of these bones takes place. 

Treatment. One or two applications of this ointment : 
Red iodide of mercury, or tincture of Spanish fly, one 
ounce ; oil of croton, twenty drops. Mix, and apply with 
rubbing. 

Sprains. — By this term is meant partial displacement; 
the twisting of a joint with more or less injury to the 
articulations, ligaments, tendons and their sheaths. At 
times small portions of the bones of the joint are separated. 
Indeed, every variety and degree of severity is to be seen 
in sprains of different parts. Every joint is liablo to 



SPEAINS. 211 

sprain, but the usual or more common sprains will be 
found in the pastern or fetlock joint, shoulder and its joint, 
hock, stifle, back and loins, flexor tendon, suspensory 
ligaments, etc., produced by a common cause, such as slip- 
ping, falling, overwork, the weight of the body, and not 
unfrequently the load falling upon a part, when not in its 
proper position for receiving it. 

Symptoms. Pain, heat, swelling, tenderness and lame- 
ness, more or less severe, depending on the severity of the 
sprain, and the part affected. In severe sprains, care must 
be taken to guard against mistakes, and to form a correct 
judgment of the nature of the injury, whether it be a 
real or simple sprain, or whether there be fracture or dis- 
location. 

Treatment. Absolute and entire rest is the principal 
point to be attended to in the cure of sprains, for a sprain 
cannot be cured without rest, no matter what other reme- 
dies are employed ; and, if there be much fever and 
excitement about the horse, a few doses of aconite will 
have to be given. Tincture of aconite root, fifteen drops, 
given three times in the day for two days, will remove 
fever and irritation. Then apply warm water cloths for 
three days, followed by cold water cloths for the same 
length of time, taking the cloths off at night, as it is 
necessary that water must be poured on the cloths every 
hour, or before the warm ones become cold, and the cold 
ones become warm. After which, the lameness and 
swelling will have ceased ; or should this not be the case, 
apply for a few days, once a day, the following liniment: 
Creosote, one ounce ; oil of turpentine, one ounce ; oil of 
olives, two ounces; mix. Be assured the horse is quite 
well before he is put to work again, as many joint diseases 
are brought on by mismanaged sprains, which never can 



212 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

be cured. For sprains of different parts of the body see 
Shoulder and Shoulder Joint Sprains, etc. 

Staggers. — A disease familiar to every horseman, and 
of a serious character. It presents different symptoms in 
different horses, depending altogether upon the extent to 
which the brain and nervous centres are affected, and 
whether the variety be mad, grass, stomach, or sleepy 
staggers. 

(1.) Stomach Staggers. — This is an attack of acute 
indigestion, from overloading the stomach ; digestion is 
arrested, fermentation is set up, and the evolution or giving 
off of carbonic acid gas distends the stomach and bowels, 
and presses on the space allotted for the lungs to play in, 
depriving them of aerating the blood, thereby affecting the 
healthy action of the brain and nervous centres, and 
producing death in from twelve to twenty hours. 

Treatment. Injections of warm water and soap, and a 
handful of salt to clean out the bowels, so that the gas can 
get free passage. Arrest fermentation by dissolving two 
ounces of the sulphite of soda in a little water, and giving 
it at one dose, the dose to be repeated every hour. Mix 
eight drachms of powdered aloes in a little warm water, 
and drench the horse with it to stimulate digestion, and 
open the bowels. 

(2.) Grass or Sleepy Staggers. — A chronic 
variety of stomach staggers, and should be treated as the 
above variety. 

(3.) Mad Staggers. — This is inflammation of the 
brain, and is sometimes called Phrenitis. 

Symptoms. Dullness followed by excitement and mad- 
ness. The sleepy stage, or the congestive period, passing 
off, then the madness is seen. The horse unconsciously 
throws and dashes himself about, and sometimes endeavors 



STAKED. 213 

to climb up the wall. At times, ropes will have to be 
used to keep him from pulling back, and becoming 
unmanageable, thereby destroying harness, carriages, some- 
times other horses, and even the stable itself. The power 
of a mad horse is great, and a painful sight to see. Finally 
he becomes exhausted, falls and dies. 

Treatment. The horse is not worth saving, and rarely 
can be saved ; for nothing can, or will, give relief to a mad 
horse, but bleeding, and this to so great an extent that 
life does not rally, and the horse dies, a dull, stupid, and 
immovable mass, unable to eat or drink. The brain is 
pressed with fluid and lymph, between the pia mater and 
the arachnoid. 

Remove a mad horse, as soon as possible, from anything 
of value, or that can be broken or hurt. Especially 
remove him from other horses, so that he may not injure 
them. 

Staked. — An accident to some portion of the body, but 
most frequently to the belly, occasioned by leaping fences, 
or it may be by the horn of an ox, cow, or bull. 

Treatment. If the injury be at the belly,the wound having 
entered it to some depth, ascertain, with the finger, whether 
any portion of the bowels is injured, or has escaped 
through the opening. If so, and part of them be torn, 
sew with small, fine cat-gut, (such as is frequently used 
by fishermen who employ artificial flies as bait,) and pass 
the bowel or intestine into its proper place, closing the 
wound in the same way as is recommended for rupture of 
the belly, (which see.) If the skin is only wounded, treat 
it as for a simple sore. If the wound is in a fleshy part, 
and the skin peeled or torn from the flesh, it had better be 
clipped off, as it will not unite again, but shrink and dry 



214 DISEASES OP THE HORSE. 

up; hense, it is neither advisable to let it hang, nor to 
attempt to sew it. Trim off the fragments of loose skin, 
and treat the wound with a weak solution of blue stone, 
chloride, or sulphate of zinc. (See Medicines and Pre- 
scriptions, and Bleeding Wounds.) 

Stings from Bees, Hornets, etc. — Not unfrequently 
we hear of horses losing their lives from irritation and 
fever, originating from the stings of these insects. 

Treatment. Take acetic acid No. 8, four ounces ; pow- 
dered camphor, one ounce; mix, and dissolve, then rub a 
portion of the mixture into the parts most affected. The 
poison, swelling, irritation, etc., will be at once arrested. 
In an hour afterwards, anoint the parts with sweet oil or 
lard. As acetic acid may not be at hand in an emergency 
like this, strong table, or white wine vinegar should be 
used, without the camphor. Acetic acid of French manu- 
facture is eight times stronger than ordinary vinegar. 

Stifle-joint Lameness. — In the article on Hock-joint 
I have stated that this form or situation of lameness in 
the horse, is not so common as horsemen and others 
suppose it to be; nevertheless, no part or function can be 
declared exempt from accident and disease. It is chiefly, 
however, an affection of young colts kept on uneven 
ground, and arises from the wearing away of the toe of 
the foot, thus inducing dislocation of the stifle, or patella, 
which slides off the rounded heads of the bones, at every 
step the animal takes. 

Treatment. Remove the horse to level pasture, and have 
him shod with a shoe, having a projecting piece of iron 
attached to the toe, which will prevent the bones from 
sliding out of place, and knuckling at every step. 

Stifle Ulceration. — This is a disease of the half-moon 



STKANGLES. 215 

shaped cartilages of the joint, and is a serious disease, as 
all joint affections commonly are. 

Symptoms. The leg is held firmly somewhat in advance 
of the other, and is thrown outwards at every step. The 
joint is enlarged, and the capsular ligament very much 
distended, especially when the animal's weight is thrown 
upon it, by holding up the sound leg. 

Treatment. Not satisfactory ; as ulceration is generally 
progressive in its character, and frequently destroys the 
heads of the bones. But the ointment of the red iodide of 
mercury may be tried. 

Bin-iodide of mercury, one drachm ; hog's lard, one 
ounce; mix, and apply by rubbing with the hand, once a 
week, for a month. Lard or oil the parts daily, between 
each application. 

Stomach Diseases. — (See Gastritis Mucosa, Staggers, 
Colic and Enteritis.) 

Stone in the Bladder. — Are those concretions 
named calculi, formed in the bladder from a diseased 
condition of the urine. 

Symptoms. Pain, an occasional stoppage in the stream of 
the urine before all is passed, and a straddling gait. 

Treatment. Is the province of surgery. 

Strains. — (See Sprains.) 

Strangles. — This is an eruptive fever, characterized 
by swelling in and between the bones of the lower jaw, 
terminating in an abscess. 

Cause. A specific poison in the blood, which few, if any 
horses that live ten years ever escape. It especially 
attacks young horses, but is often seen in those of in- 
creased years. Sometimes, the enlargement or abscess of 



216 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

the strangles, is seen on the side of the face, and even on 
other portions of the body. 

Treatment. Give the horse grass, or soft feed, and little 
or no medicine. The appetite will return when the abscess 
is opened, or breaks of itself. This is the great secret in 
the treatment of strangles. Do not poultice the swelling, 
as it will only thicken the skin. If anything is to be 
done to hasten the abscess, rub in a little of the ointment 
of Spanish fly. (See Medicines and Prescriptions.) 

Stranguary. — This is a name given to the urine, 
when mixed with blood, and when pain is present while 
the horse is urinating. 

Cause. Irritation of the bladder or kidneys, or both, 
from the use of the Spanish fly, either in the form of a 
blister, being too extensive, or too near the loins and 
kidneys ; also, from the fly being given in an improper 
manner, or in too large doses. 

Symptoms. Frequent desire to pass urine, which when 
passed, is in small quantities, and bloody. Pain, irritation, 
and fever are present. 

Treatment. To remove the pain, give twenty drops of 
the tincture of aconite root every three hours, together 
with plenty of cold water to drink; also flaxseed tea, to 
horn or drench down the throat of the horse, and sheath 
the parts from irritating substances. Take equal parts of 
good mustard and flour, mix with warm water, make into 
a soft paste, and lay over the region of the kidneys, or 
small of the back, occasionally moistening it with warm 
water, and covering it with a dry cotton or linen cloth. 

Strangulation. — This is a term applied to a part 
which is tightened, contracted, or closed. Strangulation 
and stricture are terms implying different degrees of the 



STRING HALT. 217 

same phenomena. Thus we speak of strangulation of the 
bowels from rupture, and of the glottis or head of the 
wind-pipe, when, from some cause or other, it is closed. 
Death of the horse is the result, if no opening be made 
lower down in the wind-pipe, to admit atmospheric air. 
Stricture is that condition of the wind-pipe or glottis 
which when contracted or pressed upon by enlargement of 
the glands of the neck, or thickening of its own membranes, 
diminishes the space or width of its calibre, giving rise to 
thick wind and increased breathing and cough. 

Stringhalt. — This is an affection of the hind leg, and 
is known from the peculiar way in which the hind leg or 
legs are raised from the ground — a quick, spasmodic jerk. 

Causes. These are two-fold. First The loss of nervous 
influence, whereby the extensor pedis muscle — and possibly 
some others — is deprived of its proper power. Second. 
The peculiar anatomical articulation and general structure 
of the hock-joint of the horse are such that when the leg 
of a dead horse is stripped of its muscles the ligaments 
are not disturbed at all ; and if the legs above and below 
the hock be caught hold of by the hands, and the icg 
straightened out, the moment the hands are taken from it, 
it will spring into a bent position, thereby imitating string- 
halt, as near as can be. Thus the balance of power is not 
equal ; the articulary ligaments of the hock are stronger 
than the muscles of the thigh. Hence, the moment the 
horse lifts his foot from the ground, the leg is snatched up 
by the power of the articulating ligaments. 

Treatment Restore the lost nervous influence; thereby 
the muscles of the thigh are to be brought into healthy 
action. This will best be done by good feeding, and one 
grain of strychnia nux vomica given daily, for six weeks, 
in the horse's feed. 



218 DISEASES OP THE HORSE. 

Stumbling. — Veterinary writers are nearly all silent 
on this subject, while those who say anything about it call 
it a habit. In this we cannot coincide with them, but 
regard it as a nervous affection — a nervous debility result- 
ing in atony of the flexor muscle, of the shoulder. A 
stumbler is unsafe, either for riding purposes, or for use in 
single harness when attached to a two- wheeled vehicle. 
Can such an animal be classed as sound f We think not! 

Sunstroke— Coup de Soleil. — This disease of late 
years has become of such frequent occurrence that, although 
not mentioned by previous veterinary writers, it demands 
a notice from us. The chief symptoms are exhaustion and 
stupidity, the animal usually falling to the ground and 
being unable to go further. 

To prevent it, allow the horse at short intervals a few 
mouthfuls of water, and fasten a wet sponge over the fore- 
head. The sun-shades now used by extensive owners of 
horses, will go very far in lessening the occurrence of this 
affection. 

The following treatment, when attended to at once, in the 
majority of cases, will prove effectual: 

First. Remove the horse from the harness to a cool, 
shady place. Second. Give two ounces of sulphuric ether ; 
twenty drops of the tincture of aconite root, and a bottle of 
ale or porter as a drench to sustain the vital powers, and 
to act as a powerful stimulant in equalizing the circulation 
throughout the body ; whilst, Thirdly. Chopped ice should 
be placed in a coarse towel, cloth or bag, and laid between 
the ears and over the forehead, secured in any way the 
ingenuity of the person in charge may suggest. If the 
legs be cold, bandages will be of advantage. Do not put 
the horse to work again until he is completely restored. 
Dumbness is the usual result of sun-stroke — a species of 



SWEENIE. 219 

coma — for which there is no cure. Horses so affected are 
of little use in warm weather, but are useful in winter. 

Suppuration. — This signifies the secretion of pus, and 
is one of the terminations of inflammation. 

Symptoms. Whenever suppuration is going on to any 
extent in or on the body of the horse, a shivering fit, 
similar to a chill, will or may be seen, followed in a day or 
so, either by the discharge of a yellow pus from the nose, 
or the formation of an abscess on some portion of the body. 
Suspect suppuration when rigors and shivering occur, 
especially after accidents of whatever kind. 

Treatment. First. Support the strength of the horse by 
good feeding, whereby the process will soon be over, and 
without any complication with it. Second. Do not physic 
or bleed, for those measures would prevent the process of 
suppuration from going on in its original place, and, 
perhaps, drive it to another. (See Metastasis.) 

Surfeit. — (See Skin Diseases.) 

Swelled Legs. — (See Grease, Sprains, Debility, and 
Dropsy.) 

Swellings. — These are of different kinds — the hard, 
inflammatory swelling caused by injury, suppuration, and 
diseased bone; the soft and fluctuating swelling, which is 
generally circumscribed, and seen in diseases of the joints, 
as blood spavin, etc., and contain joint oil; the dropsical, 
or soft and non-inflammatory swelling of many and differ- 
ent parts of the body, at one and the same time. Each 
must be treated according to the cause of the swelling. 
(See Farcy.) 

Sweenie. — This word or name is so deeply buried in 
obscurity that researches in every quarter have failed to 



220 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

discover its origin, or secure to it a satisfactory resurrection. 
It applies, however, when used by horsemen, to a falling 
away or shrinkage of the muscles of the shoulder, and 
indicates not so much a lameness in the shoulder as it does 
a disease else where — in the foot or leg, as corns and disease 
of the pastern joint. Atrophy should be substituted for 
sweenie, as it is generally sympathetic, and, moreover, 
means that the body or a part is diminishing in bulk. 

Treatment. Remove the cause of atrophy or sweenie, 
and the effects will pass away. 

Sympathy. — That condition which is developed in one 
part of the system or body of an animal, although not of 
itself a disease but is the result of disease or accident 
happening to some other, or remote portion of the body. 
This sympathy is communicated through and by the 
nervous system. A nail in the foot, or a broken bone, is 
immediately followed by sympathetic fever, and general 
disturbance of the whole system. Herein lies the great 
difference between animal and vegetable life. A branch of 
a bush or a tree can be lopped off without any disturbance 
to the life or health of the main trunk. No such immu- 
nity exists in the animal creation. 

Snyovia. — A clear, colorless and viscid fluid, secreted 
by the lining membrane of the joints, for the purpose of 
preventing friction, and allowing an easy motion of the 
heads of the bones over one another. Synovia sometimes 
changes in quality, becomes thinner, and gives rise to 
swellings of the joints. (See Blood and Bog Spavin.) 

Synchronous. — This name is applied to the action or 
beat of the heart, when it is in time with the beat or 
pulsation of an artery. 



THOROUGHPIN. 221 

Systole. — The movement or contraction of the heart, 
as the systolic murmur. 

Tabanidae. — A species of fly which are a great annoy- 
ance to horses. 

Tabes. — Wasting of the muscles of the body. (See 
Mesenterica.) 

Talpse. — A wart-like tumor, easily removed with a 
sharp pair of scissors. 

Teeth. — (See Mouth Diseases.) 




TOOTH FORCEPS. 

Tetanus. — (See Locked-jaw.) 

Tetter. — (See Skin Diseases.) 

Thick Wind. — (See Heaves and Broken Wind.) 

Thick Leg. — (See Grease and Farcy.) 

Thiselo.— (See Fistula.) 

Thoroughpin. — An affection of the hock-joint, accom- 
panying bog and blood spavin, characterized by soft, 
fluctuating swellings, containing fluid or joint oil in 
increased quantity, and an altered quality. 



222 DISEASES OF THE HOUSE. 

Treatment. The same as for bog or blood spavin, 
(which see.) 

Thread Worms. — (See Worms.) 

Throat Diseases.— (See Bronchitis, Cold, and Ca- 
tarrh.) 

Thrush. — (See Foot Diseases.) 

Thrombus. — (See Jugular Vein.) 

Thumps. — This is a spasm of the diaphragm, or the 
curtain which hangs down and separates the cavity of the 
abdomen, or the belly from the chest. 

Cause. Over-driving and oppression, paralyzing the 
accessory nerve, and hence the flapping of the diaphragm. 

Treatment. Place the horse in a cool, airy place, and 
allow him plenty of cold water, and if the noise, after an 
hour or so, does not subside, give two bottles of ale or 
porter as a drench. 

Tongue, Laceration of the. — (See Mouth Diseases.) 

Tonics. — (See Medicines and Prescriptions.) 

Toxicology. — The science of poisons, and their anti- 
dotes. 

Tracheotomy. — An operation to 
open the windpipe, in cases of closing 
of that tube by tumor, or thickening 
of its membrane. It is an operation 
rarely required, and moreover, not to 
be attempted by a non-professional 
person not acquainted with the art and 
science of surgery. Therefore, we will 
tracheotomy tube, forego a description of it. 




TREPANNING. 



223 



Transfusion. — This is the act or operation of trans- 
ferring the blood of one living animal into the vascular 
system of another by means of a tube. Mr. James Farrel, 
of Dublin, Ireland, was the first veterinarian, to my 
knowledge, who employed transfusion to any extent, and 
to excellent advantage. In cases of debility from blood 
letting, he has done wonders with it, and has conclusively 
proved to his countrymen the danger of bleeding horses to 
cure or prevent diseases. For, in such cases as had not 
been bled, he had no trouble ; but, in those which had been 
bled before he was called to them, every one died. Hence 
he resorted to transfusion, in order to save others that had 
been treated by bleeding. The effect of transfusion is 
almost instantaneous. 

Tread. — (See Foot Diseases.) 




TREPANNING INSTRUMENTS. 



Trepanning. — This is an operation for opening into 
the bones of the head or face to elevate or raise a portion 
of bone which from accident has been depressed or frac- 
tured. The instrument used for this purpose is called a 
Trephine. 

It is designed to cut out a circular portion of the bone, so 
that a smooth piece of iron is inserted in the hole, and 



224 



DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 




TREPHINE. 



used as a lever to raise the depressed portion to its proper 
level. 

Trismus. — (See Locked-jaw.) 

Tubercles. — (See Glanders.) 

Tumors. — Tumors may be denned as circumscribed 
swellings of different sizes, without inflammation, and dif- 
fering from one another, according to their situation and 
their nature. 

(1.) Encysted Tumors. — This is a variety of tumors 
often seen about the side of the nose of the horse. It is 
about the size of a pullet's egg, soft, and elastic to the 
touch, with no heat, inflammation, or soreness of any kind. 

Cause. Closing of the sebaceous openings of the part. 
Hence the elevation, swelling, and filling up of that portion 
of the skin which contains the sebaceous or suet-like matter. 



OPERATING KNIFE. 



Treatment Open the part with a knife, and inject for a 
few times into the inside of the tumor a teaspoon ful of 



TUMOES. 225 

the tincture of iodide, to kill the walls of the cyst. The 
surgeon sometimes cuts these tumors out, in the form of a 
soft ball, without opening them. This requires a steady 
hand. 

(2.) Encephaloid. — This term means a brain-like 
tumor, so named from its structure being like that of the 
brain. It is one of the kinds of cancer which sometimes 
attack the horse, but is more frequently seen in the dog 
and ox. 

Cause. A specific poison in the blood, not as yet well 
understood. 

Symptoms. It is solid, hard, irregular in shape, and 
knotty, with no hair upon its surface, and presenting a 
smooth and shining aspect. These tumors grow rapidly, 
and finally break on the top, presenting an angry and 
malignant sore or ulcer, which cannot be healed without 
first removing the entire tumor, with a knife, and treating 
it as for a simple sore. 

(3.) Fibroma. — This is a fibrous or warty-like tumor, 
familiar to most persons, and is attached chiefly to the 
skin only. It is troublesome only in so far as it is apt to 
bleed, thereby keeping up a degree of irritation — especial- 
ly in warm weather, because of the sweat and the flies. 

Treatment. Those persons who have not sufficient nerve 
to cut them off with the knife, can take arsenic, one 
drachm ; hog's lard, four drachms ; mix, and make an 
ointment ; rubbing in and around the tumor once a week, 
a small portion of the salve. In a short time it will fall off. 

(4.) Fatty Tumor. — This is a variety of tumor, of fre- 
quent occurrence in horses, and is composed of fat as its 
name indicates. It is sometimes called adipose and lipoma 
by the surgeons of continental Europe. 

Symptoms. A round, ovoid shape, with a firm feel, but 
15 



226 DISEASES OF THE HOESE. 

not hard nor elastic, or at least not so much so as the 
encysted form. 

Treatment. Take a sharp knife, and after getting a 
twitch upon the horse's nose, and one of the fore legs held 
up, make a straight cut over the centre of the tumor through 
the skin only. Then roll out the ball of fat with the 
fingers; the knife here is of no use. The simply opening 
the skin, and rolling out the fatty tumor, is called occlu- 
sion, and when cleverly done, looks well. 

(5.) Cancerous. — (See Melanosis.) 

(6.) Mellanoid. — (See Melanosis.) 

(7.) Bony Tumors. — A species of tumor attacking the 
bone, and is called osteosarcoma, (which see.) When 
attacking the head, it is called osteoporosis, (which see.) 

(8.) Varicose. — The horse is not often the subject of 
varicose tumor of the veins, simply from the fact that no 
garters or other ligatures are tied around the legs, inter- 
fering with a free circulation. The saphena major, how- 
ever, is the only vein liable to varicose, arising from bulg- 
ing of the hock -joint, and in cases of bog and blood spavin, 
and thorough-pin, (which see.) 

Tympanitis. — This term means drum-belly, such as 
occurs in case of flatulent colic, (which see). 

Typhia— Typhinia— Typhus. — These are contin- 
ued fevers, and are lit up and fed by a specific zymotic 
matter in the' system which is generated when horses are 
badly fed and crowded together in an inadequate supply 
of air. The fevers of glanders, farcy and pyemia are good 
examples. The seeds of the disease can only be got rid of 
by the effectual destruction of the typhinia — its existing 
ferment or leaven. (See Glanders.) 

Typhoid. — A low form of disease, accompanied with 



TYPHOSUS. 227 

fever. Example, Influenza, or catarrhal fever. (See 
Influenza, and Gastritis Mucosa. 

Typhosus. — A species of fever at present, perhaps, not 
very clearly defined, and consequent upon changes that 
have taken place in the blood of horses — a blood disease 
resulting in nervous prostration. It is comparatively a 
new disease, and is, in different parts of the country, called 
and known by various names, according to the chief sym- 
tom there observed. It is known in New York as 
cerebro spinal-meningitis by those who have seen the 
disease, because it is thought to be like when a man is 
affected in the meninges — or membranes which envelop 
the brain and the spinal marrow — producing choking dis- 
temper, putrid fever, paralysis of the par-vagum, or pneu- 
mogastric nerve, on account of the chief symptom being 
the inability of the horse to at least voluntarily swallow. 

The Symptoms of this affection in the horse are at first or 
in the early stage very latent or hidden. The chief of 
them is in the quiding of the food, as the holding it in the 
mouth and refusing to swallow ; also, by placing a bucket 
of water or other fluid within reach of a horse so affected, 
when he will place his mouth into and agitate it, going 
through the process of deglutition or swallowing without 
consuming. This has been the great symptom with those 
on the Delaware River, at Wilmington, Odessa, Smyrna, 
Bombay Hook, and also at Cold Spring Harbor, Long 
Island, New York, in the year 1867, when and where my 
advice and services were required. The inability to 
swallow continues for some days, when, from loss of 
sustenance and change in the circulating fluid, the horse 
lies or falls down exhausted. It should be observed that 
while the horses on Long Island, and on the Delaware 



228 



DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 




flat lands could not voluntarily swallow, they 
were enabled to do so when drenched out of a 
bottle, with their heads elevated. This peculiar- 
ity, however, may be ascribed to gravitation 
having its own way, and to relaxation of the 
paralyzed muscles of deglutition, which, though 
offering no assistance, interpose nothing. Those 
cases that seem to live but a few days, as is related 
by some persons, die because the symptoms are 
not observed until weakness and consequent 
inability to stand force themselves to recognition. 
There are other symptoms that we might men- 
tion, but they are alike common to all diseases of 
an asthenic or low or depressed type. It is a dis- 
ease wherein the vis vitce is extremely low, and 
it is consequently very fatal — time not being 
allowed in many instances for the treatment to 
supply, through it and the vis a Tergo, the ele- 
ments of nutrition. 

Treatment. In a disease of this kind, where 
nervous force is almost gone, we suggest the 
diffusible and more fixed stimulants, with car- 
minatives and tonics — which are embraced in 
the following formula, to be given, mixed in a 
bottle of cold water, five times in the twenty-four 
hours : Powdered carbonate of ammonia, three 
drachms; powdered capsicum, two drachms; 
powdered pimenta berries, four drachms; tinc- 
ture of nux vomica, twenty drops; mix. 
Drench the horse with cold water several times 
"svpiNiF- 110 daily, adding sixty drops of commercial sul- 
isee Endemic) phuric acid to assist in sustaining the flagging 



t 



ULCERS. 229 

powers of life. Corn meal may also be given in the same 
way, and for a like purpose. 

By way of experiment, galvanism or electricity may be 
employed over a blistered surface made along the pneu- 
mogastric nerve on each side of the neck. Injections 
endermically — under the skin — with strychnine may result 
in gaining time for other measures to become effectual as a 
cure. 

The cause of this disease in horses does not differ, we 
think, materially from those that give rise to like diseases 
in men ; for on the shore opposite to Long Island in 1867, 
and at the very time horses were affected with the disease, 
over 400 deaths were recorded in the human family from 
an affection similar to paralysis. 

The 'prevention of this disease, like many others that 
affect domestic animals, is more easily accomplished than 
the cure. Use dry stables ; also good feed," in which a 
drachm or two of the sulphate of iron, or five grains of 
arsenic should be mixed, and given once daily, when such 
diseases are in the vicinage, for eight or ten days at a time. 

Ulcers. — I do not intend to speak of internal ulcers, as 
of the brain, chest or belly — they being beyond the skill 
of the most learned, much less the non -professional reader 
— but will confine myself to external ulcers, as of the skin 
and flesh. 

(1.) Healthy Ulcers. — These are generally the result 
of an accident, or incision with a knife, or other instrument. 
Every sore which does not heal by what is called the first 
intention, but suppurates, is called a healthy ulcer. 

Treatment. Most healthy ulcers will heal of themselves : 
at most all that is required to be done, especially in warm 
weather, is to keep the granulations (which see,) from 



230 DISEASES OP THE HORSE. 

growing too fast, and above the level of the skin ; and for 
this purpose apply a solution of blue stone, or chloride of 
zinc as follows: Chloride of zinc, four grains; rain water, 
one ounce ; mix. Or, powdered blue stone, two drachms; 
rain water, eight ounces ; mix. One of these mixtures 
may be applied once a day, just sufficient to moisten the 
sore, and keep proud flesh down. The simple ointment 
of the drug stores is a good healing salve, and should 
always be in the house and at hand. 

In neglected sores, and when proud flesh has grown up 
above the level of the skin of the healthy part, take a stick 
of caustic potassa, and hold one end with a piece of cloth, 
or stick one end in a goose quill, and touch the sore with 
the other end of the caustic a few times, till the proud flesh 
turns black. Repeat at another time, if necessary. Keep 
the caustic in a tightly-corked bottle, or else it will be 
dissolved into fluid when next wanted. 

Sewing the lips of wounds and sores together is not now 
much practiced, as the stitches are apt to rot, and the parts 
swell, in consequence of which the sewing gives way, 
thereby aggravating the sore. 

Adhesive plaster is also not advisable, as, when it is put. 
on over the sore, it prevents the proper fluids thereof 
from being discharged, and the moisture serves to loosen 
the plaster. 

(2.) Indolent Ulcers. — This variety of ulcer or sore 
usually attacks the skin of the legs and heels of horses, 
(see Phagadena, Grease, and Farcy,) eating down into or 
below the surrounding surface. It is covered with a 
whitish-gray matter, and, in some few cases, small red 
spots are seen looking through the white covering. These 
are granulations, and are possibly unhealthy ones. (See 
Frost Bites.) 



VENTILATION. 231 

Causes. A bad habit of the body and blood ; poor 
feeding, and debility. 

Treatment. Apply powdered blue stone to the ulcer, to 
eat off the unhealthy surface. Then apply a poultice for 
the night, made of any soft, moist material — say boiled 
turnips, carrots, or bran and flaxseed meal, made with a 
little warm water. The face of the poultice should be 
covered with powdered charcoal or brewer's yeast. Con- 
tinue the treatment with an occasional poultice, and the 
solution of blue stone. 

Feed the horse well, and give half-ounce doses of the 
sulphite of soda, once a day, to purify and enrich the blood. 

(3.) Irritable Ulcer. — Example : Sores on the pas- 
tern-joint irritated by the flies, heat and sweat of summer. 

Symptoms. Cannot be touched without they bleed; 
angry-looking, and very sore ; highly inflamed, and ex- 
tremely vascular. 

Treatment. Difficult to cure during warm weather, but 
easily healed in moderate weather, when there are few or 
no flies. 

Dress the sore with oil of olives, one ounce ; creosote? 
half an ounce; oil of turpentine, half an ounce; mix, 
and apply to the sore with a piece of soft cloth, once a day. 
Do not let any of the mixture run down on the hair, 
which will, if so treated, fall off. 

Urinary Calculi. — (See Stone in the Bladder.) 

Urine, Bloody. — (See Hematuria.) 

Varicose. — The enlarged vein on the hock-joint, caused 
by bog and blood spavin. (See Spavins and Tumors.) 

Venesection. — Bleeding by opening a vein. 

Ventilation. — Few persons are aware of the vast 



232 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

importance of pure, fresh air, in the maintenance of health, 
and the prevention of disease, in both man and beast 
However necessary pure air is in health, it is still more 
so to an animal when sick from fever and disease ; and in- 
deed there are diseases in which no treatment can or will 
be successful, no matter how skilfully directed, without 
pure, fresh air and cold water to drink. Show me a badly 
ventilated stable or barn, and I will show you in the 
spring of each year horses fevered and diseased. (See 
Disinfectants.) Coughs, colds, lung fever, influenza, 
grease, scratches, farcy and glanders, are the results of bad 
ventilation. 

Who has not heard with horror of the Black Hole at 
Calcutta, in which one hundred and forty-six men were 
confined for a few hours without ventilation, and only 
twenty-three survived the short confinement. Horses con- 
fined only for a few hours without ventilation, as was the 
case in two military expeditions sent out by England — 
one to Quiberon, and the other to Varna — in which the 
hatches of the ships were put down, and only for a short 
time, but sufficiently long to produce glanders in almost 
every horse. Hence, it will be perceived that, without 
good ventilation, a high standard of general health cannot 
be maintained very long. 

Veterinary Biography. — The increased facilities for 
receiving and transmitting intelligence in all parts of the 
world, make it desirable in a book, designed, as this is, for 
the non-professional reader, that something should be said 
of the persons, whose opinions have some weight, con- 
cerning the cause, treatment and prevention of diseases of 
stock, throughout the world. The history of veterinary 
medicine, has a claim to greater antiquity even than that 
of domestic medicine, which few will deny ; or else why 



VETERINARY BIOGRAPHY. 233 

should Vegetius have uttered these words : — "Ars veteri- 
nari post medicinum Seounda est," aud write a book , in 
VIII volumes, entitled " De arte Veterinarian Aud 
further, we are assured through the writings of Homer, 
1000 years before Christ, that this science had an existence 
in his day ; and this is also corroborated by Herodotus 500 
years later. Simon, the Athenian Farrier, was practicing 
the art as it then existed, fully 300 years before Galen, 
and about 500 years before Celsus, the Roman physician, 
had yet lived. It was by order of the Greek Emperor, 
Constantius, of the seventh century, that the various writ- 
ings upon the subject were collected, and arranged under 
the title, Hyppocratika, and were translated from the 
original Greek into Latin, by Dr. Ruelle, in the latter part 
of the fourteenth century, by order of Francis the First, 
King of France. Ramazzini, of Italy, Sauvage, of France, 
and Camper, of Germany, form the connecting link between 
ancient and more modern times — or to the advent of 
Charles Vial de Sain Bell, the founder of the first veteri- 
nary college in England, in the year 1792. Sain Bell 
was a man of ability, a good reasoner, clever, and very 
brilliant. He died before much progress had been made 
in establishing the college. He was succeeded by a dashing 
young medical student named Coleman, a favorite of Sir 
Astley Cooper, the great surgeon ; but it is by no means 
clear that he was regarded, by the celebrated John Hunter, 
as filling the chair of so illustrious a predecessor in a satis- 
factory manner. However, he was the means by which 
veterinary science made considerable progress. The grave, 
some years ago, closed over his mortal remains; but his 
writings are much thought of, and quoted by some, 
although many other writings, more modern, are in the 
hands of the public. 



234 DISEASES OF THE HOUSE. 

Where there was but one great teacher, there are now 
many, and able. Among them is Win. Youatt, who is 
known wherever the English language is spoken. He is a 
clear and indefatigable writer, and a great and constant 
advocate of bleeding and blistering, in nearly every disease. 
Many publishers and others have tried to elevate his works 
to the new idea of a rational and successful system ; yet, 
withal, much inconvenience and loss, to the agriculturist, 
has resulted from consulting his works, in cases of sickness 
and disease. He was a bold and daring man. Many 
times he allowed himself to be bitten by mad dogs, and, 
strange to say, never suffered from canine rabies. 

James Beart Simmonds, who is still living, is known in 
this country by his report, to the British Parliament, on 
the rinderpest. He is professor of cattle pathology to the 
Royal Veterinary College, and a man of ability. 

Charles Spooner, principal of the college known to the 
readers of the Royal Agricultural Society's Journal, is also 
prominent. The Scotch are well represented by Professors 
Dick, Dun, and Gamgee. Mr. Dick is the founder of the 
present Edinburgh College, and veterinarian to the High- 
land and Agricultural Society. Mr. Dun is sound, and 
learned, and has carried off more prizes on veterinary 
agricultural subjects, than any other man. The Irish 
agricultural interests are protected by Messrs. Ferguson, 
and Farrel. Edward Mayhew is an invalid, and has 
confined himself to book-making. He has shown the 
world well, how a man may write books, when he knows 
nothing of the subject he is writing about. In his works, 
the book-making tact is seen to advantage, and they bear 
many evidences of cleverness. 

France is well and creditably represented by Reynal 
and Boulay; and Germany, by Herring. The United 



VETEKINARY SURGEONS. 235 

States has made great progress in veterinary science, within 
a few years, and especially in regard to the treatment of 
disease. The various State agricultural societies, and farm 
schools, are doing much in the way of advancing the cause 
of a rational system of animal medication, throughout the 
land. The Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of 
Agriculture, the oldest society of the kind in the country, 
has long been a powerful patron of veterinary science. 

The Pennsylvania Farm School orders a course of 
lectures to be delivered before the class, each session. The 
New York State Agricultural Society's efforts are gigantic, 
practical, and in the right direction. The secretary, B. P. 
Johnson, Esq., is well known throughout the country, as 
devoting his life to the cause and advancement of agricul- 
ture, in all its auxiliary branches. Massachusetts has 
spoken no less ably through Mr. Flint, her secretary. 
Ohio, and other States of the Union, might be named in 
this connection, but space will not permit. 

Veterinary Colleges. — These do not seem to flourish 
in this country ; many have been started, but most of 
them have been closed for want of patronage. Prof. 
McClure, in his earlier years, conducted very successfully 
in Philadelphia, the "Merchants' Veterinary College;" 
but the leading veterinary school in America at the pres- 
ent day is the Veterinary Department of the University 
of Pennsylvania, under charge of Dr. E. S. Huide- 
koper. 

Veterinary Surgeons— Veterinarians. — Terms in 

use or applied to persons whose calling is to cure diseases 
among domestic animals. Veterinary surgeons are not 
unlike domestic physicians — many of whom are mere 
apologies in their profession. This is not so because of 



236 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

inferior education to those who have risen to distinction 
as successful and skilful in practice, but chiefly from a want 
of natural adaptability to the profession they have chosen, 
mistakably for themselves, and a source of disappoint- 
ment to their patrons. 

Thus Mr. Greaves, of the London College of Veter- 
inary Surgeons, and one of the most expert and 
successful members of his profession to be found in 
any country, says in the Veterinarian, (periodical,) that 
among the certified pupils leaving college, many 
cannot even tell which leg a horse is lame in. Again, 
he says that on account of this, and the want of confi- 
dence of the public in them, the practical man, though 
ignorant, is preferred to the practitioners who write 
M. R. C. V. S. L. after their names. To insure a 
uniform standard of efficiency in veterinarians, it is 
now customary to make a preliminary examination of 
each person before admission to studentship. This 
examination is not in the abstract sciences, but in those 
matters, the possession of which, when put together, 
form common sense, or a good judgment of things and 
phenomena. It is for the want of such merit in the 
purely scientific, that little or no room is left for practical 
matters and their application. 

The science of Gamgee did not discover the cause of 
Texan Fever ; whereas, we think if he had but stooped 
to look at common and unhidden things, the apparent mys- 
tery would ere this time have been cleared up. We would 
not, however, under-rate science ; for when it is associated 
with good judgment, it is the key to success in veterinary 
medicine and surgery. We desire to add, in this connec- 
tion, the lamentable fact that in cities and large towns, and 
indeed all over the country, persons will be found who call 



wens. 237 

themselves veterinary surgeons, and practice as such without 
qualification — having neither legal, moral, nor educational 
attainments. 

Vives. — A term given to bastard, or an irregular 

variety of strangles. (See Strangles.) 

Warts. — (See Tumors.) 

Warranty. — A form of certificate given on the purchase 
or payment for a horse. There is nothing mysterious, nor 
yet of much importance, as to the form of a warranty. 
The best forms amount to nothing in the eyes of the law. 
Horses are like other merchandise. If not as represented, 
damages or difference in value can be obtained by a process 
of law, providing the seller can be found, and has property 
which can be levied upon. 'Tis true, in such a case, an 
action in tort may be brought whereby if payment is not 
made, he can be sent to prison for awhile, or till he can 
claim the benefit of the insolvent act. 

Few persons will bring an action at court for swindling, 
or getting money under false pretences, by horse dealing, 
for it will be difficult to maintain such an action, and get 
a verdict upon it. (See Soundness.) 

Warbles. — (See Skin Diseases.) 

Water Farcy. — (See Dropsy and Farcy.) 

Weeping Eye. — As its name indicates, this is a flow 
of tears from the eye down the side of the face, instead 
of through their proper channel. 

Cause. Obstruction in the lachrymal sac, or nasal duct, 
from a disease called fistula lachrymalis. 

Treatment. This is the province of the surgeon and 
anatomist. 

Wens. — The common name for external tumora. 



238 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

Wheezing. — This is a sound given from a horse having 
enlarged glands, or thickening of the membrane of the 
wind-pipe, or the glands pressing upon the head decreasing 
its calibre. Whistling is caused by the same alteration of 
structure in the wind-pipe. 

Whirl-Bone, a Sprain of the. — (See Sprains and 
Hock.) 

Wind Galls. — Are soft but elastic swellings or enlarge- 
ments. They are non-inflammatory in character, and are 
produced by the same cause, governed by the same laws, 
and present the same phenomena as bog, blood spavin, and 
other enlarged or distended bursa of joints, which are all 
produced by, and are evidences of hard work. No treat- 
ment for them will be satisfactory, as they will return 
again, even if they have been removed. 

Wind-Sucking. — (See Crib-Biter.) 

Worms. — The worms which inhabit the body of the 
horse are of many varieties. Some of them are harmless, 
while others interfere with his health. They are, 1st. The 
bot or oestrus equi, found inhabiting the stomach. 2d. 
The oestrus Hwmori-Jtoidalis or Fundament bot, found in 
the rectum, and often seen about the anus, and under the 
tail. 3d. The gtrongylus, and Filaria, found in the aorta, 
and other blood vessels. 4th. The ascarides vermicularis, 
found in small cells within the mucous covering of the 
coecum, or blind gut. 5th. Filaria, found in the aqueous 
humor of the eye. 

(1.) Stomach Bot. — These worms are the result of 
turning horses out to pasture in the summer months, and 
are produced from the eggs laid or glued to the fore legs 
of the horse, by the bot fly. 

Symptoms. An unthrifty coat, and loss of flesh, after a 



wokms. 239 

run at grass, may be taken as an indication that bots are 
present within the stomach. 

Treatment. Improve the condition of the horse, so that 
the debilitating effects of the bots' presence may not inter- 
fere with the general health and condition of the horse ; 
for it must be borne in mind that no medicinecan, or will, 
dislodge or destroy these parasites short of killing the 
horse, also. Once the eggs are in the stomach, which 
seems to be the natural nursery both for their protection, 
and the propagation of their species, they cannot be re- 
moved by force. In one year from the time the eggs are 
taken into the stomach, will the bot be a perfect chrysalis, 
and will fall from the coats of the stomach, and be expelled 
with the excreta or dung. In a short time after, it will be 
provided with wings, and fly about, commencing the prop- 
agation of its species, which must pass through the same 
period of probation or incubation, as its progenitors. 
Give iron and gentian, in addition to good feeding, to 
prevent the bots from debilitating the animal too much. 
Take powdered sulphate of iron and gentian root, each 
three drachms ; mix, and make one dose, to be repeated 
twice a week. 

(2.) Fundament Bot. — Like that of the stomach, but 
also the result of a run to the grass. Instead of the eggs 
beingdeposited upon the legs, they are stuck to the muzzle 
or lips of the horse, and are the color of the skin, hence 
not often seen. 

Symptoms. The following year, during the summer 
months, the larva of this species will be seen sticking 
about the anus, and under the tail, which in spirited horses 
proves a source of great uneasiness and irritation. 

Treatment. Injections of linseed oil, or tobacco smoke. 



240 DISEASES OF THE HOUSE. 

(3.) Strongyeus. — This variety, and a species of 
Filaria, are sometimes found in the blood vessels, and are 
similar in the effects produced in the horse to those seen 
in sheep affected with rot. 

Cause. Feeding on wet and marshy land, and pasture 
having been flooded with water. Who has not heard of 
the effects produced from this cause, in animals grazed 
upon the course of the river Nile, in Egypt, after each 
inundation? 

Treatment. Support the strength by good, generous feed- 
ing, and give iron, and gentian, each two to three drachms, 
once a day, removing the animal to high and dry pasture. 

(4.) Ascarides. 

Cause. A bad habit of body, called cachexia and chlo- 
rosis. 

Treatment. Give iron, gentian and arsenious acid, in 
the following manner: Powdered sulphate of iron, two 
drachms ; gentian root, two drachms; arsenic, five grains ; 
mix, and give in one dose in mixed, cut or soft feed, twice 
or three times a week. 

Wounds. — They are divided into simple, incised, con- 
tused, lacerated, punctured and poisoned. Wounds are 



^EteummiiainurM-ii m -^L 



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DIRECTOR AND PROBES USED IN THE CURE OF WOUNDS AND SORES. 

more or less dangerous, when entering the chest and belly ; 
as are also poisoned wounds, or those from the bite of a 
mad dog. (See Bitee.) 



WOUEALI. 241 

Wounds following, by bleeding, will be found treated of 
under the article on Bleeding, (which see.) 




CURVED AND PEOBE POINTED SCISSORS FOB DRESSING THE 

CAVITIES OF WOUNDS. 



Contused, lacerated and punctured wounds are generally 
followed by suppuration, (which see,) which should be 
encouraged by warm poultices applied to the parts, and 
should be kept freely open to allow the pus free escape. 
Wounds entering the belly or chest, should be treated by 
placing a pad over the part to exclude the air, followed by 
the application used in simple wounds. Keep down pain 
by giving twenty drops of the tincture of aconite root, 
three times a day, for two days only. Poisoned wounds 
wiii be found treated of under the article on Bite of Mad 
Bog, (which see.) 

Wourali. — A name given to a poison, which is prepared 
by the Macousi Indians, of South America, and used by 
them on the points of their arrows. This poison has been 
advocated by some in the treatment of locked-jaw, in the 
horse, but in my experience nothing favorable can be said 
of it as a cure for this terrible disease. The power of this 
poison is so great, that in four minutes after an ox, of one 
thousand pounds weight, was pierced in each thigh by an 
arrow poisoned with it, the poison took effect, and in a few 
minutes more his head and legs ceased to move. In 
16 



242 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 

twenty minutes from the time he was wounded, the ox was 
dead, having apparently died without pain. 

Yellows. — Discoloration of parts of the skin from liver 
disease. (See Liver.) 

Yellow Water. — (See Liver Diseases.) 

Zoology. — That part of natural history which treats 
of the structure, habits, classification, and habitations of all 
animals, from man to the lowest of all the tribes. 

Zumins. — Are Ferments. 




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DISEASES OF CATTLE. 




This part of our work ia 
devoted to the explanation 
and treatment of the various 
diseases affecting the ox, to* 
gether with an account of the 
diseases incident to milch 
cows and young calves. 

Cattle diseases are, in many 
particulars, similar to those 
of the horse. Thus inflam- 
mation, irritation and fever, 
are common to all animals. Still, however, there are 
many diseases affecting catttle, in which we fail to find a 
counterpart in any disease attacking horses. Among such 
diseases we may mention those of contagious typhus, or 
rinderpest; epizootic aphtha, or the murrain; splenic 
apoplexy and quarter evil, or the black leg. 

The manner or mode of treating disease in the ox differs 
no more from that employed in the case of the horse, than 
one disease differs from another. For it must be remem- 
bered by every person who undertakes to give medicine to 
an ox or a cow, that they have four stomachs — 1, the 
rumen, or paunch ; 2, the reticulum ; 3, the manyplus ; 4, 
the abomasum. For this reason, or, as it were, peculiarity, 
cows or oxen should, under every condition, be treated 



244 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

with medicine in a fluid form only, so that it may pass 
from one stomach to another without injury, and in the 
shortest possible time. By giving medicine in the form of 
a. solid — as is sometimes given to the horse — in place of its 
finding the way into any of the stomachs, it is more likely 
to break through the floor of the oesophageal, canal, (a 
platform at the bottom of the gullet,) thus not only losing 
the medicine, but at the same time destroying the animal. 
In cases of abscess, tumors, sores or ulcers, etc., in cattle, 
and where the description and treatment is not full enough, 
or not given at all, the reader is requested to turn to the 
Diseases of the Horse, in the preceding part of this work, 
where he will find ample information upon these subjects. 

(1.) Abortion. — An effection peculiar to cows, and 
chiefly attacking those that are kept in the neighborhood 
of cities and large towns, and in the vicinity of cheese 
factories. It is rarely seen to any extent in the herds of 
the breeder and agriculturist. It consists in the cow 
parting with her calf at any time between the first month 
of conception and the last month of gestation. 

Premonitory Symptoms. By these the event is at times 
clearly foreshadowed. They are extremely deceptive and 
uncertain, however, and differ materially with the cause of 
the trouble. In those cases which resemble an epizootic 
(epidemic) disease in their course, a short,inaudible, involun- 
tary cough is observed, while, by auscultation of the neck, 
a slightly roughened sound will be heard in the bronchia, 
accompanied by weakness of the body. Indeed, the 
symptoms of this occurrence, when not of sporadic origin, 
are weakness and debility. This debility and weakness, 
to most persons, will prove deceptive, because the blood is, 
or has gone under a morphological change; and then, and 



ABORTION. 245 

then only, do the calf attachments to the womb or uterus 
of the mother separate. The cow brightens up, and feels 
as it were a life de nova, though carrying her dead offspring 
— which she will continue to do till the fresh stimulus 
given by the blood that formerly gave life to the calf 
enables her system to contract the womb, and thereby ex- 
pel the foreign body. 

Causes. These should not have remained so long a mys- 
tery, when we consider how difficult and unreasonable it is 
for us to expect the cow to thrive and do well when placed 
in an anomalous condition — one totally foreign to her spe- 
cies — a "factory hand," as much so as the veriest operative 
in the mills of Lowell and Lawrence. The true causes, 
to be brief, are — 1. Feeding upon slop or other milk- 
secreting materials. 2. Insufficient feed of whatever de- 
scription. 3. The attempted reproduction of the species, 
whilst at the same time a drain is being made upon the 
system by an excessive and unnatural demand for milk. 
4. Irritation of the white membranes of the wind-pipe, 
changing and weakening the blood. 5. Exudative pleuro- 
pneumonia, or other debilitating disease. Any of the 
above named causes, singly or combined, when acting 
upon an animal placed at so great a disadvantage, as we 
have shown, will necessarily result in outraged nature 
chosing her great prerogative between life and death and 
the perfect propagation of her progeny. 

Prevention. This can readily be done, as every intelli- 
gent reader will conclude after reviewing the causes. It 
consists in : 

1. Feeding substantial feed, and enough of it, but not 
excessively sloppy or wet — for in this way, the bowels are 
kept too loose, relaxing the solids of the body, and thereby 
inducing over-secretion of milk at the expense of good 
health. 



246 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

2. Though the cow be unprofitable, allow some feed, 
gradually increasing it in quality, and, if necessary, in 
quantity, as she approaches the time of calving. By this 
means the extra demands of nature in the increasing size 
and wants of the calf will be supplied without at all affect- 
ing the health or strength of the mother — thus insuring 
a natural parturition. 

3. Dry up the milk in all cows that do not, in the 
natural order of things, stop secreting milk, say three 
months preceding their time of calving, by giving sulphate 
of iron, three drachms, in powder, combined with gentian 
root ; also, in powder, half an ounce, once daily, mixed in 
feed, for a week to ten days. No milking should be done, 
other than to prevent injury to the udder if it becomes 
distended. 

4. If there is a cough peculiar to more than one or two 
cows, allow plenty of good food, with two drachms of the 
sulphate of iron, and half an ounce each of ginger and 
gentian, twice daily, to keep the blood in its normal state, 
to prevent relaxation of the solids of the body terminating 
in exudation, and to promote absorption. 

When any of the cows have been sick of pleuro-pneu- 
monia or other disease, cure them and keep up the strength 
by tonics and a generous diet, always bearing in mind that 
it is poor policy and worse economy to starve animals, 
especially when suffering from disease. Thus we have 
mapped out a plan, which, if faithfully followed and put in 
practice, will accomplish what it is intended to do; and if, 
in the opinions of others, I am in any way mistaken, I can 
only say, as did Luther at the diet of Worms, " hier stehe 
ich, ich kann nicht cinders." 

(2.) Abortion, Sporadic. — This variety is the result 
of accident and disease of the womb itself, and is not to be 



ABORTION. 247 

confounded with abortion arising from causes named in 
the preceding article. 

(3.) Abortion Before Viability. — A variety of 
abortion occurring within a few weeks of pregnancy, 
caused by irritation and excitement of the uterus. To pre- 
vent a recurrence of the annoyance, change the pastures or 
feed of the cows before putting the bull among them. 

Remarks. It will no doubt be remarked that the views 
herein expressed seem to differ with opinions already 
given, to some extent, to the public. They are neverthe- 
less the same in substance that we have heretofore enter- 
tained, and they have given satisfaction to all who have 
faithfully put them to test. In my own hands, hundreds 
of cows in Pennsylvania, in the vicinity of Philadelphia, 
have not only been prevented from aborting their calves, 
but prevented from pleuro-pneumonia, also, when both 
were in the herd at the same time, and immediately 
preceding the use of iron, etc. So much does this accom- 
plish, that Mr. Horace B. Taylor, a druggist in this city, 
sells it in quantity according to the receipt as heretofore 
published by me, and at the instance of Sylvester J. Me- 
gargee, Esq., a breeder of fine cattle, who has found it all 
that can be desired as a prophylactic in abortion. 

In this connection, we would refer the reader to a 
lecture by the Hon. W. I. Skinner, of Little Falls, N. Y., 
in the course of which was shown the loss of nine calves 
by abortion, whereas in the use of irou, etc., the trouble 
was at once arrested. To those who at any time may have 
found no relief from its use, if there be any such, we can 
only say that the fact must be attributable to misapplica- 
tion, adulteration, bad material, or, peradventure, some 
other cause. We would ask such persons " do they not 
find it as profitable to draw milk year in and year out 



248 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

from the machine without interruption — which can be 
occasionally done by the cow aborting — as from cows 
carrying their calves to full time, and the consequent loss 
of three months' milk, (although an occasional cow remain 
dry as the result of abortion,) when butter, cheese and 
milk command so high a price?" 

The efforts of others to solve the apparent mystery sur- 
rounding the cause of abortion have been considerable, and 
the results have been invariably somewhat contradictory, 
negative, non-committal, or of questionable utility. Thus 
the New York State Agricultural Society, through its then 
president, J. S. Gould, presented a memorial to the Legis- 
lature of the State, setting forth the evil results recurring 
to the dairy interests of the State, and asking for an ap- 
propriation to defray the expenses of a commission to in- 
vestigate the cause, and point out a remedy ; also, assuring 
the Legislature that if the prayer was granted, certain 
veterinary surgeons and medical men in Philadelphia, etc., 
were likely to throw light upon the cause, and recommend 
a cure. Thus, at the very beginning of his efforts, Mr. 
Gould perpetrates a blunder ; for no veterinary surgeon or 
medical man from Philadelphia was employed on the com- 
mission. The choice of Mr. Gould was J. C. Dalton, 
M. D., of New York, whose report of investigations and 
their results disappointed many persons who had enter- 
tained high expectations from it; for it proved to be nega- 
tive, and of little use to the dairy interest. The Society 
evidently was not satisfied with Dal ton's report, for next 
year a new commission was formed, with W. H. Carmalt, 
of New York, at its head, but with no veterinary surgeon 
attached to it. His report was rendered in due time, 
and though non-committal in character, it contained valu- 
able information to all interested in the dairy. Amongst 



ANEMIA. 249 

the eon trad ictions of the two reports, we will only mention 
that Dr. Dalton says a cow having once aborted is four 
times more likely to do so subsequently, and Dr. Carmalt 
says that she is about twice as liable. Have they been 
guessing, or is this discrepancy merely the result of 
idiosyncrasy ? 

The experiments of X. A. Willard, Esq., — a leader in 
all that pertains to excellency in dairy management — in 
feeding his cows " bone meal," are in the right direction, 
but do not go far enough, although apparently successful 
in preventing the recurrence of abortion. By substituting 
for bone meal that which contains more of the nutritious 
combined with the astringent in effect would be prefer- 
able; but as we have already intimated, it goes a certain 
way in meeting one or more of the causes of the trouble. 

Abomasum. — The fourth or true stomach of the ox, 
and of the sheep also. 

Angle Berries. — Warty-like excrescences, which differ 

from the ordinary wart by having a stem or neck to them. 

Treatment. Cut them off with a knife or pair of scissors. 

Anemia. — This term is applied to a weak condition of 
cows, sometimes called want of blood, and is more common 
than most persons are aware of. Cows are not selfish ; the 
more they get in feed, the more they will generally give 
in the form of milk and butter. 

Symptoms. Whiteness and clearness of the lining mem- 
branes of the nose, mouth, and eyes, are sure indications 
of a want of blood in the system. When this condition 
occurs as an effect of disease as, for instance, that of pleuro- 
pneumonia, the animal will become hectic, and die in a 
month or so from the first attack. 

Treatment. Give the following powders, night and morn- 



250 DISEASES OP CATTLE. 

ing, in cut feed: Powdered gentian root, three drachms; 
powdered ginger root, three drachms; mix, and make one 
dose. If these powders improve the animal in a week or 
so, give two drachms of the sulphate of iron in addition 
thereto. The iron, however, may dry up the milk con- 
siderably. The case then resolves itself into whether it 
would be better to have a dead cow or a dry one. Good 
and generous feeding is indicated in this disease. 

Apoplexy. — (See Splenic Apoplexy.) 

Aphtha or Thrush. — This is an eruption in the 
mouth similar to small bladders, and is often mistaken for 
a contagious disease called Epizootic Aphtha. 

Cause. Irritation in the mouth of young cattle from 
teething. 

Treatment. If treatment be at all necessary, a weak 
mixture of vinegar and cold water will answer; or a solu- 
tion of alum or alum water applied to the mouth twice a 
day, will be all that is wanted. 

Biliary Calculi or Gallstones. — These are of several 

colors. 

(1.) White Gallstones. 

(2.) Yellow Brown Gallstones. 

(3.) Dark Green Gallstones. — All of which are 
hard, grooved, and have the odor of musk. During the 
life of the animal no symptoms are observed whereby 
their presence can be detected. This, however, is of little 
or no consequence, as no treatment is necessary, and they 
scarcely ever cause the ox any inconvenience. 

Black Quarter. — Joint Felon — Quarter Evil. This is 
a disease peculiar to young cattle, and occurs in the spring 
of the year. It is characterized by one hind leg and thigh 



BLADDER. 251 

becoming congested, and black with coagulated blood. The 
other portions of the body retain their normal or healthy 
appearance. It is sudden in its attack, and death follows 
in a few hours. 

Causes. A robust stamina or plethoric condition, and 
fulness of blood. 

Treatment. No time for cure. 

Prevention. This is the most important particular to be 
attended to. On the first appearance of this disease, give 
each young animal less than two years, and those above 
one year of age, a good brisk purge to clean out the 
bowels. For this purpose, use half a pound of epsom 
salts in two bottles of water, sweetened with molasses, and 
add a teaspoonful of ginger. Put the young stock on high 
land, and where the grass is not too good. 

Black Tongue. — (See Glossanthrax.) 

Black Water— (See Red Water.) 

Bladder Diseases. — The ox is not free from disease 
of this organ. Bladder diseases in cattle generally are the 
result of irritant matters in the urine, and of calculi or 
stone in the bladder. 

Symptoms. The animal is restless, having pain and 
irritation, and constantly endeavoring to make urine, but 
only a few drops passing at a time. The eyes are invari- 
ably blood-shot. Should the animal not be relieved, it 
will die from weakness, exhaustion, constant excitement 
and irritation. 

Treatment. Give at once twenty-five drops of the tincture 
of aconite root, to relieve irritation and pain. Give freely 
linseed tea and other demulcents, to soothe the kidneys 
and bladder. In order that any earthy matter which may 
be present in the uretus, kidneys or bladder may ^e 



252 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

lessened or destroyed altogether, give sixty drops of muri- 
atic acid once or twice a day in cold water. This, however, 
should not be given whilst there is pain or irritation present. 

Bladder, Prolapsus of the. — Among cows, during 
and after difficult calving, there will be sometimes observed 
a white, shining, watery bag protruding between the lips 
of the vulva. This is the bladder holding the urine. It 
is twisted at its neck, and, therefore, cannot be emptied. 
Many a good cow has been destroyed by ignorant persons 
mistaking this for some of the watery membranes sur- 
rounding the calf, and, therefore, intentionally tearing it 
asunder. 

Treatment. Carefully examine the distended bag, its 
shape, and size. Having determined that it is the urinary 
bladder, carefully cleanse it, if dirty, and pass the hand 
previously oiled along its surface, ascertaining which way 
the turn or twist is made. Having satisfactorily known 
this, take the bladder by the other hand and reverse the 
turn or twist, and then carefully push the bladder back 
into its place. 

Should the bladder again return, a tampon — a roll of 
soft cotton cloth — should be used to plug up the vulva for 
an hour or two. If this should not be sufficient, a stick 
or suture of stout saddler's silk, or other strong material, 
should be passed through each side of the vulva with a 
small packing or darning needle, and be allowed to remain 
for a few days. 

Diseases of the uninary bladder are many, and diverse in 
their character. Having pointed out the most common 
form of disease of this organ, I will simply mention by 
name others not so often seen, or at all events observed: 
Distension, causing abdominal pain ; eversion ; extroversion; 
inversion, causing painful urination; inflammation; paraly- 



BEITTANY COW. 253 

sis, causing difficult, and in some cases entire stoppage of 
the urinary flow and rupture of the bladder, and polypi in 
the bladder, causing frequent urination, and the urine 
small in quantity. Milch cows are chiefly the subjects of 
these last varieties of diseases of the bladder, which are the 
real causes of many mysterious deaths amongst them. 

Blood Shot. — (See Quarter Evil.) 

Blood Diseases. — (See Quarter Evil, Red Water, etc.) 

Brain Diseases. — Phrenitis. An inflammation which 
is the same as mad staggers in the horse. It is due to 
overfeeding in long, wet grass or clover, and distention of 
the stomach. In rare instances it is caused by the deposit 
of wax-like matter within the ear that communicates 
with the brain. 

Symptoms. The animal is dull during congestion. This 
is succeeded by quickened breathing,- excitement and de- 
lirium, the eyes being blood shot. It is the picture of 
disease and suffering, and if not soon relieved, falls and 
remains in a state of stupor, from which it never re- 
covers. 

Treatment. In the early stages of this disease, much can 
be done by an active cathartic or purge, composed of one 
pound of epsom salts, and one pound of table salt, dis- 
solved in four quarts of cold water and sweetened with 
molasses. Apply ice or ice water to the forehead, warm 
water bandages to the legs, and tightly clothe the body. 
Inflammation of the brain is often seen in the fatal form 
of milk fever in cows. 

Brittany Cow. — A very small animal, imported from 
the south of France, and from Brittany itself — which is 
to the northwest of France, and separates the English 



254 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

Channel from the Atlantic Ocean. M. P. Bellamy, Vet- 
erinary Professor to the Department of Agriculture, at 
Ren nes, says, La Vache Bretonne — Utile au Riche, Provi- 
dence du Pauvre — "the Brittany cow — useful to the rich, 
and a blessing to the poor." Some few of these useful 
little cows have been imported into this country, and, if 
all be true which is said in their favor, more of them 
ought to be imported. They are represented to be hardy 
and healthy; they cau be kept on such food as other cows 
would starve upon, and they can stand a greater amount 
of hardship than any other variety. 

Bronchitis. — This is inflammation of the wind-pipe, 
and even extending to the lungs themselves. There is 
every variety or severity seen in this disease, from the 
simple irritation of the buccal membrane to the intense 
inflammation terminating in the outpouring of serum from 
the blood into the cavity of the chest, resulting, if the cow 
be with calf, in abortion, and often, among others, in the 
death of the animal, after a long and lingering hectic fever. 
Bronchitis, and throat and chest diseases in cattle, are 
insidious and deceptive, for the ox does not, even under 
the most severe forms of these, exhibit fever and irritation, 
loss of appetite, etc., which are shown at once when 
attacking the horse. Not until the disease has made con- 
siderable progress, does the ox or the cow show symptoms 
of disease; so much is this the case, that I have on several 
occasions pointed out bronchial and chest disease, in milch 
cows, whilst the owners failed to see anything wrong. 
Indeed, this is the great difficulty in the successful treat- 
ment of diseases in neat cattle — not getting or applying 
the remedies at any early stage of the affection. A closer 
attention, and more careful observation on the part of 
farmers and others, is almost imperatively demanded, and 



BRONCHITIS. 255 

more especially should this be the case with dairy people; 
for when anything in the least unusual is discovered, such 
as a very slight grating sound in the wind-pipe when the 
ear is steadily applied, the cow should immediately have 
some iron, or tonic powders, and all will be well in a few 
days again ; whereas, if left to itself, serum is exuded, and 
debility, weakness, and even death may follow. I would 
say to dairy men, study the sounds in the wind-pipe, both 
in the sick and well animal, and you will not only perfect 
your knowledge in this particular, but I assure you it 
will be no idle study ; for in a short time you will not only 
be able to detect these insidious diseases, in the beginning, 
in your cows, but can apply the remedy also, thereby 
saving yourself from inconvenience and loss, which some 
can ill afford. In this way, you can prove to your neigh- 
bors, and to the world at large, that cattle diseases are 
not so difficult to cure after all, and that while others have 
so long sat and brooded with souied and sullen minds over 
their losses, and the ignorance and inefficiency of cow doc- 
tors, you have obtained a mastery of the situation. 

Cause. Bronchitis is a disease which rarely attacks one 
animal only, but usually the most of the herd will have 
been attacked before it leaves the place, and then it will 
leave when there are no more victims to seize. These 
epizootic diseases depend upon what are called atmospheric 
causes. Such condition usually manifests itself in the 
spring of the year, and sometimes early in the summer. 
The peculiarity of the air causes irritation of the fauces of 
the mouth, throat or wind-pipe, and, as before stated, 
sometimes extends to the chest and lungs themselves. 

Symptoms. In a week or so after the attack, a slight 
husky cough, with weeping from the eyes, and a. watery 
discharge from the inner corner of the nose, will be seen ; 



256 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

and by applying the ear to the course of the wind-pipe, a 
slight, rough and grating sound will be heard. This 
sound, however, can be heard from twelve hours after the 
attack. According to the amount of serum poured out, 
and whether the cow be in calf, and how far she is gone in 
calf, so will the quickness and depth of the breathing be. 
Bronchitis is the forerunner of pleuro-pneumonia, com- 
monly called the " Massachusetts Cattle Disease." The 
spotted and solid appearance of the lungs of animals hav- 
ing died of this disease, is due to the lungs being so long 
immersed in the serum or fluid, which is poured into the 
chest. Pathological anatomists are well aware, that if the 
substance of the lungs had been the original seat of the 
disease, the animal so affected would either have died, or 
have recovered in about forty-eight hours; whereas, none 
scarcely die within the first week from the attack, and 
many live a lingering life of six weeks and two months. 
This fact cannot be reconciled with the current theory of 
the lungs being diseased by direct attack. No ! They 
are solidified either from their functions being impaired by 
being immersed in and surrounded by fluid poured out 
from the fibrous serous tissue, or from the effects of in- 
flammation of the linings of the wind-pipe, and, perhaps, 
the linings of the chest, singly or conjointly with that of 
the wind-pipe also. This, I am satisfied, is susceptible 
of no other theory, or explanation whatever; and the 
sooner farmers and others think so, too, the better it will 
be for them. 

Treatment. If the disease be discovered within forty- 
eight hours from the attack, take from four to five doses 
of the tincture of aconite root, twenty-five drops to a dose, 
and give one dose every four hours. If there be uncer- 
tainty as to whether the disease has existed longer or 



BULL BURNT. 257 

shorter, to save time the aconite may be given along with 
the following powders, three times in the day : Powdered 
sulphate of iron, three drachms; powdered gentian root, 
half an ounce ; powdered ginger root, half an ounce ; 
powdered sulphite of soda, half an ounce ; mix and make 
a drench, to be poured down the mouth out of a strong 
bottle. This medicine is to be continued (omitting the 
aconite after the fifth dose) till the animal is well, or looks 
brighter, and eats all it gets. If it be a milch cow, the 
usual quantity of milk will be given. In addition to the 
above medicines, give, once or twice daily, half an ounce 
of commercial sulphuric acid, largely diluted or mixed in 
half a bucket of cold water. In feeding, care should be 
taken not to give too much, so as to bring on dangerous 
indigestion. Cold water and pure air are indispensable 
agents in the treatment of this and all diseases of horses 
and cattle. 

Bull Burnt. — This is a disease similar to gonorrhoea 
in man. Of all the domestic animals, the ox tribe are 
the only ones which are subject to this disease, more com- 
mon in hot than in cold weather. 

Symptoms. In urinating there is uneasiness, and the 
urine is passed in small quantities ; slight mucous dis- 
charges from the organ of generation. In the bull, there 
is at times no desire for copulation, even when it is desira* 
ble that there should be. This often leads to the 
discovery of the cause. 

Treatment. Separate the bull from the cows, and dose 
the affected ones, including the bull, with a purgative of 
epsom and common salts. Give one pound each, mixed 
or dissolved in four quarts of cold water, sweetened with 
molasses, and add a little ginger — say a quarter of an 
ounce. Be assured that both bull and cows are thoroughly 
17 



258 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

cured before the bull is admitted among the cows, for a 
second attack on the bull will render him useless. 

Cachexia. — This, properly speaking, may be denomi- 
nated a bad habit of the body, from faulty digestion and 
assimilation of the food taken into the stomach. 

Symptoms. Morbid or diseased appetite — the animal at 
every chance licking the earth, stones, lime walls, and 
other substances, which cows in health would not touch. 
This disease, like many others, occasionally takes an 
epizootic form, and attacks animals over a large tract of 
country. More particularly, the animal's coat stares, fol- 
lowed by a mucous discharge from the eyes and mouth ; 
milk almost disappears, and what there is of it is very 
blue and thin. At this stage of the disease, the animal is 
thin ; the membranes of the mouth, nose and eyes are 
white and pale, showing the bloodless state to which the 
beast is reduced. Stiffness of the joints soon presents itself 
consequent upon infiltration of serum into the bursa? of 
the joint, causing much swelling. In certain parts of 
England it is called the "cripple." Finally, the animal 
is reduced to a skeleton, and dies within a few months to 
a year from the first appearance of the disease. 

Treatment. The first thing to be done is to have the 
animal removed to high and dry pasture lands, which 
may be the means of cutting short the disease, before much 
injury has been done it. Give plenty of salt, and the 
preparation of soda and lime, with good food of a nutri- 
tious quality. A. few doses of commercial sulphuric acid 
highly diluted — say half an ounce by weight, given once 
a day in half a bucket of cold water — and, if necessary, 
a few doses of iron and gentian, will arrest the disease. 

Calving. — This is an operation of nature, which most 



CALVING. 259 

dairymen and farmers are familiar with, and upon which 
we will say comparatively little. Before we do this, how- 
ever, a short description of the symptoms, by which it is 
known when a cow is in calf, will be given. 

Symptoms. The first and most important symptoms of 
a cow being with calf, is the absence of cestromania or 
bulling. This, however, is not altogether relied upon in 
some cows, for there are cases in which a pregnant cow 
will receive the bull up to the time of calving. The next, 
and probably the more sure sign of a cow being with calf, 
is the increased size of the belly. The hand placed firmly 
against the flank, or portion where there are no ribs ; a 
hard, firm body will be felt, which is the calf. As time 
passes along, the movements of the calf in the womb can 
occasionally be seen. Within a few weeks of calving, the 
external organs of generation — labia pudendi — increase in 
size, and discharge a thick mucus. The udder becomes 
swollen, hot, and full of the first milk : — colostrum — which 
is sure indication that the time for calving is near at hand. 
This is accompanied by a relaxation of the ligaments of the 
pelvis, or, as the dairymen say, " she is down in her bones." 

Symptoms of Immediate Delivery. Great restlessness 
and uneasiness, shown by lying down and rising up, and 
increasing in severity, until she has been delivered of a 
calf. From the time of conception, till natural parturition 
or calving, it is about forty weeks, or two hundred and 
eighty days. 

There are, however, opinions at variance with these 
dates, founded upon the sex of the calf. If a male, it 
is carried longer than if of the opposite sex. These opin- 
ions form ground for debate, therefore we will drop 
theorizing. 

Natural Calving. — This resembles the fruit when 



260 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

ripe, breaking from its attachment to the parent tree, and 
falling into the lap of mother earth. If the pelvic bones 
are well or proportionably formed in the cow, and the 
presentation and size of the calf be right, no trouble need 
be apprehended, and the cow may be left to herself. The 
natural presentation at full time, and of a full-grown calf, 
is as follows: The amnion, or waterbag, having been rup- 
tured or broken, there will be seen the fore legs and head 
of the calf resting upon the two feet, and protruding a 
little. If, however, the cow should labor long with the 
calf in this position, and she is weak and thin in flesh, she 
may be assisted. This can be done by taking hold of the 
two feet and part of the head, and when the cow makes an 
effort to strain, pull at the calf. If sufficient force cannot 
be applied by the hands, then place a soft but stout rope 
round the feet of the calf and apply traction or force. 
Before any force whatever is used, be sure that the mouth 
of the womb is sufficiently dilated ; for if this be not the 
case, then by using force the womb is torn or ruptured, 
and the death of the cow is the result. Be patient, and 
time — the prover of all things — will also prove the wisdom 
of waiting. If after delay, however, both cow and calf 
should be lost, be consoled by the fact, that it is likely the 
one or both would have been lost any way ; for there will 
be found some one or other of these malformations, either 
in the pelvis or arch of the pubis of the cow, or an undue 
proportion of the size of the calf to the pelvic arch through 
which it has to pass, to be delivered. In all cases where 
the calf presents itself in the form above described, and 
delivery is not effected, rest assured that the pelvic arch 
of the mother is too small or too narrow. If that be not 
the case, the calf is over size, from water in the head, 
(Hydrocephalus,) or water in the belly, (Dropsy,) or both 



CALVING. 261 

of these conditions combined, which is seen by veterinary 
surgeons, in large country practice. 

Before a calf of this description can be delivered, and 
the cow relieved, the head of the calf must be pierced, to 
lessen its size, then a long spear-like instrument — trocar — 
is used to pierce the belly or abdomen of the calf, to empty 
the fluid, to lessen also its great size. When that is 
properly done, and the cow is not too greatly exhausted, 
she may complete the delivery without further assistance. 

Twin Calves. — Twin presentations are as various 
as they are curious. Thus, we sometimes see a fore leg 
of one calf, and the hind leg of the other. In this condi- 
tion of things, it must be evident that no force should be 
used to bring them away till each calf is properly 
adjusted in its position. The best and quickest way is to 
adjust the calf which first presents itself, and if portions 
of the other be presented also, push them back into the 
womb. When one calf is safely delivered, not much diffi- 
culty will be experienced with the other. 

Unnatural Presentation. — We have now arrived 
at that portion of our subject which, more plainly talking, 
has reference to when the calf is being forced into the neck 
of the uterus or womb in any form except the natural 
position already described. The unnatural position of 
calves, about to be delivered, is happily rare, and forms 
the exception to the natural law of presentation. However 
rare these presentations are, they nevertheless are some- 
times seen. Thus the feet are presented, and the head of 
the calf doubled on its neck, and in the womb. This 
condition is best remedied by tying a rope round the fore 
feet, or both together, and raising the hind parts of the 
cow off the ground ; thus forcing the calf down to the 
fundus or bottom of the womb. This being done, reach 



262 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

the hand in and seize the calf by the head, and bring it 
with you, while an assistant is pulling upon the rope 
attached to the fore legs. 

By adopting this plan a safe and speedy delivery will 
be effected. English veterinary surgeons, with Professor 
Simmonds at their head, say this is the most dangerous 
form of presentation, involving the life of both cow and 
calf. Why do they say so, and how does it prove so to 
them ? Because they vainly endeavor by force to bring 
the head of the calf into the neck of the womb, when there 
is no room to doso, without first elevating the hind portion 
of the cow sufficiently for the calf to fall to the bottom of 
the womb, where there is plenty of room to turn, not only 
the head, but the whole of the body also. 

Another form of malformation is, where we have the 
head and neck within the neck of the uterus or womb, 
without the fore feet and legs. The only alternative in 
this case is to remove the head by cutting it off from the 
neck; leaving, however, sufficient skin for attaching a rope 
to it. But if the head has not fairly passed out, an attempt 
should be made to put it back into the womb again, and 
not bring it out. Before pushing it back, fix a rope round 
the lower jaw. The legs one by one, should be searched 
for by the hand, and when found secured by another rope. 
After both fore legs and head are thus fairly within the 
grasp, use traction or gentle force, and take advantage of 
very strain made by the cow, and by these means the calf 
will be safely delivered. 

The next unnatural form consists in the presentation of 
one or other of the fore legs, where the nose is pressed 
downwards, and the crown of the head only is seen or felt. 
Secure the leg which is seen by a cord, push on the crown 
of the head or elevate the hind parts of the cow a little to, 



CALVINO. 263 

force the calf slightly down in the womb; then pass a cord 
round the lower jaw, and find the other fore leg, securing 
it by a rope. The rope attached to the jaw should be first 
pulled to straighten the head on the neck, then the cord 
attached to the legs should be pulled simultaneously, and 
the head and feet as they are presented should be guided 
by the hands of an assistant until the head and fore legs 
have fairly entered the proper channel. 

The next presentation is what is called a breech pre- 
sentation — the tail and buttocks are here presented for 
delivery, which, of course, cannot be effected in such 
position. The only chance of a safe delivery is to get 
hold of the hind legs, which is not easily effected ; but 
perseverance, assisted by ingenuity, can do much, when 
it is well known what is required. In this case, get hold 
of both hind legs, and when they have been secured, and 
brought into the proper channel, delivery can be easily 
effected. 

The next and last presentation which we notice, is where 
the crown of the head is presented, and the calf is lying 
upon its back. This is a tedious labor, and to effect a 
delivery at all, the calf must be turned, which, by the by, 
is not an easy task ; still, however, it can be done by 
securing the head and fore legs with a rope. Should all 
efforts fail, do not exhaust the strength of the cow, but 
hasten to detach the legs of the calf, opening its belly, and 
in some cases, the head also, to lessen its size, thereby 
securing the delivery of a mutilated calf, but a living 
cow. The subject is far from being at this point ex- 
hausted, but we have gone sufficiently far for our pages. 
We will now proceed to another subject connected with 
calving, and that is the retention of the after-birth, or 
retentio secundinarium, as it is called, or, as the dairy folks 
say, the cleansing of the cow. 



264 diseases of cattle. 

Retention of the Placenta, or After-birth. — 
If the cow has gone her full time with calf, and is in a 
healthy condition, the after-birth will not be retained long 
after she has given birth to her calf. When a cow does 
not cleanse properly, and within a reasonable time, there 
is then something otherwise wrong with her health, such 
as debility and want of vitality in the system. It is this 
that must be looked to, and not the want of timely cleans- 
ing that demands attention, as being the cause of the cow 
not doing w-ell after calving. Remedy these existing 
causes, and the cow will cleanse properly enough. Con- 
trary to the generally received opinion of farmers and 
others, the retention of the after-birth for a day or two 
will do no harm, provided that decomposition does not 
take place with the after-birth ; for in such cases, the 
whole system of the cow is apt to be. contaminated and 
poisoned. 

Treatment. Cows not having cleansed properly within 
twenty-four hours after calving, should be given the fol- 
lowing mixture : Epsom salts, one pound; powdered ginger, 
one ounce; powdered fenugreek, one ounce; caraway seeds, 
half an ounce; mix, and give in three or four bottles of 
warm ale, porter or warm water, sweetened with molasses. 
This mixture not having the desired effect in twelve hours, 
the hand, well greased, should be introduced, and the 
after-birth at the attachments, called cotyledons, gently 
pressed. This must not be accompanied with much pulling, 
as pressure with the finger and thumb will be all that is 
wanted. This operation maybe followed by giving the 
cow a little warm ale or molasses water, with half an ounce 
of powdered ergot of rye ; and in half an hour, an addi- 
tional half ounce. This will cause contraction of the womb, 
and expulsion of the placenta. When decomposition or 



CATAERHUS LINUUM PRONTALIUM. 265 

putrefaction of the after-birth has taken place, which is 
known by the black color, the womb should be well 
washed out with a weak solution of chloride of lime. 
Administer, also, by the mouth, one ounce, three times in 
the day, of sulphite of soda for a week, to neutralize any 
of the poison of putrefaction, that may have been absorbed 
into the blood. Give the cow good and nutritious feed to 
support her strength. 

Symptoms of Blood Poisoning. The absorption of 
putrid matter into the blood is immediately followed by 
fever, of a low type, called typhoid, and if not speedily 
checked will be succeeded by typhus, from which the ani- 
mal cannot recover. 

Treatment. Give the sulphite of soda in the manner 
spoken of above, combined with two drachms of the sul- 
phate of iron, and one ounce each of powdered ginger 
and fcenugreek three times in the day, till the beast is 
bright, lively, and free from stupidity. 

Inversion of the bladder will be found treated of under 
Bladder Diseases. 

Disease. — Inversion of, or falling down of the calf- 
bed, will be treated of under its proper or alphabetical 
head, Falling of the Womb. 

Catarrh. — This is not a disease common to the ox, for 
when causes arise sufficient to produce catarrh or cold in 
the cow, it does not run its course as such, but is speedily 
accompanied, or at least followed, by severe complications. 
Cattle not exceeding two years old are subject to a dis- 
ease somewhat similar to cold, called hoose. (See Bron- 
chitis and Hoose.) 

Catarrhus Linuum Frontalium. — Malignant Ca- 
tarrh. This is one of the recorded diseases of the ox which 



266 DISEASES OP CATTLE. 

I think has really no existence, except in the brain of gom« 
men ; or it may be a condition confounded with Typhus 
Contagiosus Boum. The disease is described as being 
similar to glanders in the horse. If this be the case, the 
disease is not properly named ; for the frontal sinuses are 
not the seat of the disease. This multiplication of names 
of diseases is only calculated to puzzle people, and annoy 
the farmer. Further than this, I have so little patience 
with the writers who thus manifest their ignorance of the 
first principles of pathology — to which all writings and 
opinions should be subservient — that I feel it my duty to 
denounce them unsparingly whenever opportunity offers. 

Cattle Plague. — This is a vague name, and conveys 
no intimation of the cause, nature, seat, or characteristics 
of the affection, whatever it may be. Therefore, for the 
credit of the writer and the convenience. of the public, no 
disease should be called a plague. There is now no dis- 
ease affecting the human family called a plague. The ex- 
perienced physician can tell the nature, seat and complete 
history of the disease, and gives it a name by which it will 
be known and recognized. Why should not the veteri- 
nary surgeon do likewise? 

So long as such men as Gamgee continue to write and 
speak of cattle plagues, so long will veterinary surgeons 
continue to labor in vain for the public confidence. Why 
should not things, states and conditions be called by their 
right names? Cattle disease, cattle plague and rinderpest 
should long ago have been blotted from the books ; for, at 
best, they only serve as a cloak or cover to hide the innate 
ignorance and stupidity of some veterinary surgeons — 
horse and cow doctors particularly. The word plague 
means a stroke, and that is all the insight a person can 



CHOKING. 267 

derive from the word. As every disease may be consid- 
ered a stroke, why not add what kind of stroke it is, 
whether it be a stroke of palsy, or of the sun? (For 
Cattle Plague see Typhus Contagiosus Bourn and Pleuro- 
pneumonia.) 

Chicken-Pox. — Varicella Bourn. — A pustular eruption 
on the teats of cows, presumed to be caused by eating vine 
leaves. The eruptions soon discharge, dry up, and heal, 
without any treatment whatever having been applied to 
them. 

Choking. — This is of frequent occurrence among cattle 
or cows fed upon potatoes, turnips, etc. 

Treatment. When the potato is lodged in the upper or 
middle third of the gullet, the mouth of the animal is to 
be held open by means of a balling iron, or some other 
contrivance, while a person having a small hand should 
pass a cord like a clothes line, with a loop on the end of it, 
and try to get the noose over and beyond the obstruction. 
If the obstruction be low down in the gullet, manipulations 
may be tried from outside, by tightening the skin upon 
the obstruction, and trying to move it up, if possible; but 
downwards, if it will go without too great force being 
used. Failing to remove it either up or down, try to dis- 
lodge it by pouring small quantities of oil or melted lard, 
not hot, down the throat. If this also prove ineffectual, 
the probang should be used; or in its stead, a strong 
flexible cane or rattan, may be tried ; but care should be 
taken to have the cane go down the right passage. It 
coughing is set up on the introduction of the cane, have i( 
withdrawn as it has entered the air passage, but try till 
it has been properly entered down to the obstruction, 
With patience and perseverance the difficulty will usually 



268 diseases of cattle. 

be overcome. Still, however, there are cases which require 
the gullet to be opened over the place of obstruction ; a safe 
operation requiring only a simple cut through the skin and 
outer surface of the gullet, which will readily heal without 
much trouble, by bringing the lips of the wound together, 
with a stitch or two of strong, but small twine, or saddler's 
silk, by means of a small packing needle. Feed the cow 
or ox, for a week or more, upon soft or prepared food till 
the wound has healed. When cows or oxen remain long 
in a choked condition, the throat is apt to swell from the 
accumulation of gas in the first stomach, which will have 
to be treated as for hoven or tympanitis — occurring usually 
from eating clover or rank and wet grass. (See Hoven.) 

Colic. — Colic in cattle is more rarely seen than in the 
horse, but occurs in the form of hoven, (which see.) 

Consumption. — This disease is not so common in 
domestic animals as in the human family, nor is it as 
frequent in any of the animals as it is in the milch cow. 
Consumption in cows is usually exhibited in the tubercular 
form. These tubercles are from the size of a pin head 
to that of a hickory nut, flattened, oval and round, and are 
not confined to the lungs, but are seen underneath the 
pleura costalis lining the ribs — over the diaphragm, peri- 
toneum, and the omentum or caul. 

Causes. This is considered one of the hereditary diseases 
of cattle, or rather milch cows. As is elsewhere stated in 
regard to hereditary disease — in the first part of this book 
— it does not necessarily follow that a cow should be con- 
sumptive, because its mother was so. No. But rather 
because it has inherited the great milking qualities of its 
ancestors, whereby the animal is reduced in flesh, condition 
and vitality, the fibrous, serous tissue of the body becoming 



CONTAGIOUS TYPHUS. 269 

deteriorated — hence the foundation for tubercular consump- 
tion. Cows of some breeds are not selfish, for the more 
they are fed, the more milk will they give. These are 
all the claims which can justly be made in favor of the 
hereditary cause of consumption in cows. 

Symptoms. Thin of flesh, unthrifty ; a staring coat of 
hair, long and dead-looking ; a low husky cough, loss of 
appetite, weakness, and a bloodless condition of the whole 
system, which is readily known by the pale, white look of 
the lining of the eyes, nose, and mouth. The consump- 
tive cow stands with her back arched, and her fore legs 
turned out at the elbows, and when lying rests on the belly 
and breast bone. The milk of such cows is thin, blue, 
and watery. 

Previous to the death of a consumptive cow, diarrhoea, 
dysentery, discharges from the nose and eyes, accompanied 
with hectic, or sympathetic fever, conclude the symptoms 
of this lingering, but fatal disease. 

Treatment. In the early stage of consumption in cows 
much can be done in the way of treatment. Feed the 
animal well with rich and nutritious material, such as lin- 
seed, cake-meal, etc. Sulphuric acid given several times 
a week, in doses of half an ounce in weight, largely diluted 
with water, will sustain the vital powers, and impart 
tenacity to the buccal membrane throughout the body. 
Use occasional doses of sulphate of iron and gentian ; three 
drachms of iron and half an ounce of the gentian, will 
make one dose. Such treatment will prolong the life, and, 
at the same time, improve the condition and milking qual- 
ities of the cow. 

Contagious Typhus. — (See Typhus Contagiosus 
Bourn.) 



270 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

Coryza. — (See Catarrhus, Linuum and Hoose.) 

Cow-pOX. — Variolas Vaccince. This is a simple affec- 
tion of the skin of the udder, which has claimed much 
notice on account of the valuable benefit conferred by it 
upon the human family, in furnishing the material for the 
vaccination of children. 

Cause. At present unknown. 

Nature. A contagious eruption, running a fixed course, 
and accompanied by slight fever. 

Symptoms. Teats painful, slightly swollen, a faint blush 
upon the udder; and in about three or four days, red 
hard spots are seen, succeeded by red patches, which, in 
from a few days to a week, form bladders containing the 
true vaccine lymph. 

Treatment. Warmth, good nursing, and the drawing of 
the milk from the udder by the syphon — as shown in the 
treatment of diseases of the teats. (See Teats.) 

Croup. — Stridulous croup in animals is rare, but it is 
seen occasionally in milch cows, and is very fatal, from the 
fact that it is situated in the larynx, which speedily causes 
suffocation, unless the windpipe be opened with a knife to 
admit of the act of respiration and expiration till the 
swelling of the head of the windpipe has passed off. 

Cause. Cold attacking the head of the windpipe, fol- 
lowed by inflammation, and the development of false mem- 
branes. 

Symptoms. Loud, stridulous noise or murmur, quick- 
ened breathing, excitation, fever, and threatening suffoca- 
tion of the animal, cough and distress. 

Treatment, Place the animal in the open air — if in 
summer time, in the shade — and give aconite, in the form 
of tincture, twenty-five drops to a dose. This will allay 



DIAEEH(EA. 271 

the excitement, fever and irritation. If this give relief, 
repeat the dose in a few hours again. But on the con- 
trary, there being no relief in half an hour, give no more 
aconite, nor indeed anything else. There will be but one 
of three things to be done : either to kill the beast, if it be 
in good condition, and fit for market; or wait for the 
animal to die, or have the boldness to cut a hole in the 
windpipe, about the middle, and on front of the neck. In 
case the latter is preferred, tighten the skin on the front 
of the windpipe, and make a clean cut fair down the centre, 
and through the skin ; when the white shining windpipe 
is brought to view, have an assistant to hold the edges of 
the skin back out of the way, till a hole is cut out of the 
cartilages of the tube, as large as a fifty cent piece. This 
will give instantaneous relief. The hole will gradually 
fill up, and close again without any trouble whatever. 
This, I am satisfied, is the only sure way of cure in this 
disease. 

Cud, LOSS of the. — This occurrence is the symptom 
of, and not a disease. Loss of the cud, or rumination, 
accompanies almost every disease of any importance attack- 
ing the ox or cow. When rumination has ceased for a 
time, and is resumed again, it is a good symptom that the 
animal is somewhat better, and an indication that the 
functions of the body are about being resumed again, and 
are demanding food for their nourishment. Loss of cud is 
among the first symptoms observed by farmers in case of 
bronchitis, pleuro-pneumonia, hoven, aphtha, etc. 

Diarrhoea, Simple. — This variety does not call for 
much description, as it is only an effort of nature to get rid 
of something that is injurious. By its removal the purging 
will stop. Simple diarrhoea rarely calls for treatment, but 



272 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

if it should, change of feed and pasture land will be the 
first things to be attended to; and, if necessary, after a 
trial of new feed and pasture, a few powders composed of 
prepared chalk, two ounces ; ginger, half an ounce; opium, 
one drachm ; may be mixed and given in the form of a 
drench, with wheat flour gruel. Repeat the dose, if it be 
necessary, but never be in a hurry to give astringents in 
looseness of the bowels, as much mischief may be done by 
controverting the efforts of nature, which are always of 
salutary effect, if not too violent for the condition of the 
beast, and in that case interference is necessary. 

(1.) Diarrhcea, Chronic. — This condition is some- 
times called the Rot, from the belief that the animal is 
rotten. Chronic, or indeed, any kind of diarrhcea should 
not be looked upon as a disease at all, but merely a symp- 
tom of internal irritation of some kind. 

Causes. This is an important inquiry in cattle pathology, 
for farmers are sometimes disappointed when they are 
told the animal will die within a given time, not knowing 
the nature of the disease of which diarrhcea and dysentery 
are but the symptoms. Chronic diarrhcea is the sequel to 
tuberculous consumption already described under that 
head ; or dysentei-y may show itself before even consump- 
tion is either thought of or recognized, However, chronic 
diarrhoea or dysentery is the result of tubercles situated on, 
and in the white membranes throughout the body. 

Treatment. Generous diet, composed of linseed or cake 
meal. Commercial sulphuric acid, gentian, and sulphate 
of iron, are the medicines employed. In addition to this 
treatment, which has already been recommended for con- 
sumption, I would advise weekly inhalations of sulphurous 
acid gas in the manner recommended under that head in 
the list of medicines, (which see,) for I think this is one of 



DIARRHCEA. 273 

those diseases which will be greatly benefited by its proper 
use. 

(2.) Diarrhcea in Calves. — This is a frequent affec- 
tion among young calves, and destroys thousands of them 
every year. 

Cause. Depending upon the character of the milk ; not 
so much its quality as the time and manner of giving it. 
Thus, calves are not allowed to suck their own mothers ; 
frequently they are not allowed to suck at all, but have 
to drink the milk out of a bucket, and then it is often 
cold before they are allowed to have it. The rapidity with 
which they drink their allowance, which is often too much 
for them, gorges the stomach and paralyzes the digestive 
functions. Hence, the white diarrhoea so often seen among 
young calves. 

Symptoms. The symptoms one would think alike in all 
animals ; but this is not the case here, or so far as the 
diarrhoea of calves is concerned. They have a voracious 
appetite, swelling of the belly with occasional pain, dis- 
charges of wind or gas, and white or yellowish-colored 
excrement or dung, while in some bad cases the true milk is 
passed unchanged by the action of either stomach or bowels. 

Prevention. This is better than cure, and consists in 
allowing the calf, until several weeks old, to suck its own 
mother, not only morning and night, but at least three 
times in the day, dividing the periods as evenly as possible. 
Thus, by allowing calves to suck the milk for themselves, 
paralyzation and gorging the stomach with cold milk is 
avoided, and thereby white diarrhoea prevented. 

Treatment. Give three drachms of carbonate of soda in 

well boiled wheat flour gruel once a day. If this is not 

convenient, give a tablespoonful of common rennet after 

each feed of milk the calf takes ; this will materially aid 

18 



274 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

proper digestion by its power in decomposing the milk and 
fitting it for assimilation. 

Distention of the Rumen. — (See Hoven.) 

Dropping After Calving. — (See Milk Fever.) 

Dysentery. — (See Consumption and Chronic Diar- 
rhoea.) 

Ectopia Cordis. — This is a deformity sometimes met 
with in calves at birth. The heart may be seen outside 
of the chest, or the lower portion of the neck, or even 
through an opening below the chest, and sometimes even 
in the abdomen. The animal will have to be killed. 

Epizootic Aphtha. — Murrain. In some parts of the 
world, this disease is called murrain. It is one of the 
epizootic diseases of cattle, attacking the feet and mouth, 
and sometimes extending to the teats of the udder. 

Causes. Contagion is believed to be the cause, but i 
never can be reconciled to belief in the repeated bug-bear 
that contagion is the only cause of certain diseases. We 
all know, however, that when a disease is once established 
it can affect others ; but still we must consider that all 
diseases, of whatever kind, must have had an origin aside 
from any contagious element to produce it. This, I firmly 
believe to be one of those diseases, depending not so much 
upon contagion, as upon what Sydenham would call the 
peculiar constitution of the year, exercising certain deleteri- 
ous influences on the system, and soon followed by disease 
of some portion or other of the body. 

Symptoms. Sore mouth, sore teats and sore feet ; ele- 
vated vesicles within the mouth, and on the teats, which 
contain pus, and soon discharge and dry up through the 
formation of a scab — at which juncture fever and other 
consitutional symptoms subside. When the feet are badly 



EYE DISEASES. 275 

affected the sores burrow deep in between the hoof and the 
sensitive structure of the foot, which results in a complete 
separation of the hoof, and its being finally thrown off 
entirely. 

It is painful to look, as I have done on several occasions, 
upon a whole row of cows suffering from suppuration, and 
falling off of the hoofs. The loss to dairy men consists 
in the loss of milk, and loss of condition in the cows; for 
if the cows are properly attended to, not many of them need 
die. The hoof will grow again, and be as useful as ever, 
from the fact that cows like pigs are not kept for racing 
purposes, and a second hoof, although not so strong as the 
first one, will answer for the purpose of walking on soft 
ground, and gathering their food. 

Treatment. Apply to the sores the following lotion : 
Sulphate of zinc, two drachms; water, one pint. 

Prevention. When once fairly established in a place, it 
is almost a certainty that all cows and neat cattle will take 
it, some developing it sooner than others. To save time and 
expense, "take the bull by the horns," and inoculate every 
one of them. By producing the disease in this way, a 
week or so will see the last of it, and by good care not 
much time or loss will have been incurred. The milk of 
cows affected with this disease is poison. Calves, by 
drinking the milk of cows with this disease, will perish in 
great numbers. 

Symptoms. Difficulty in swallowing, and cough ; saliva 
driveling from the mouth. The whole accompanied by 
fever, and frequently ending in death. 

Eye Diseases. — Cows are not so often the subject of 
diseases of the eye, as horses are. There is, however, one 
disease of the eye which cows are often affected with, 



276 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

namely : cancer of the eye, which cannot be cured, but 
will ultimately destroy the eye altogether. For other 
diseases of the eye, see Eye Diseases, in the first part of 
this book. 

Falling Sickness. — (See Milk Fever.) 

Falling of the Womb. — Calf Bed— Reed, etc. Th is 
deviation from the normal or healthy condition is a great 
trouble to the farmer and breeder. 

Cause. Relaxation of the horns or ligaments of the womb 
from a weak and relaxed habit of the body, accompanied 
by debility. 

Prevention. Immediately after calving, apply a truss or 
pad to the mouth of the vagina, and secure it in the fol- 
lowing manner : put a large horse collar on the cow's neck ; 
one surcingle round the body of the cOw, behind the fore 
legs, and another in front of the udder and hind legs. 
This being done, attach a small soft rope to each side of 
the collar, bring it along each side of the back bone, give 
it a hitch round the fore surcingle, and the same on the 
hind one; then bring the rope close together under the 
tail, and place the pad over the proper part, with the 
ropes laid firmly over it. Here tie both ropes together 
with a string, just below the pad, then bring one rope 
down between the udder and thigh, give it a hitch round 
the hind surcingle or band, and finally secure the end of 
the ropes to that portion coming along the back. 

Treatment. When the womb has fallen down and is in- 
verted, assistance should be had at once. The womb or 
bag should be lifted into a clean cloth, and held up by a 
person on each side. There are two ways of returning the 
womb into its place, the one by pressure on the neck or 
small portion of the womb, and the other by pressure to 



FEEDING OF MILCH COWS. 277 

the fundus or large end or bottom of the womb. This 
last is the best way, because we have not only the mere 
pulling of the womb to contend with, but its invertion also. 
So, therefore, apply gentle pressure to the bottom of the 
womb, first having cleaned it from dirt, dung and straw. 
The operation will be effected more easily by having the 
cow placed with her fore legs low, and the hind ones high, 
so that it will slip in without much difficulty. After it is 
in, the cow should be kept standing in such position, or 
even lying in this position, a day or so, and the pad, 
already spoken of, should be applied as soon as the opera- 
tion is finished. The pad is a much better way of securing 
the parts than by sewing the lips of the vagina. 

Where all efforts fail to put back the bed, and when 
decomposition or mortification has ensued, the only chance 
to save the life of the cow is to cut the womb or bed at its 
smallest or neck portions; but before doing so, tie firmly 
round the neck of the womb a well waxed cord, which will 
prevent bleeding. This is to remain on the bed which is 
left. Give immediately, twenty-five drops of the tincture 
of aconite root every three hours, till four or five doses are 
given, which will relieve pain, and control the circulation. 

Fardel Bound. — This is a disease affecting the 
omasum, or third stomach of the cow or ox. (See Impac- 
tion, Hoveu, and Texan Fever.) 

Feeding of Milch COWS. — I am induced to refer to 
this subject on account of its importance, together with the 
eminently practical manner of feeding cows, suggested in 
a pamphlet by Mrs. Agnes Scott, a lady of Scotland. 
Premising, however, that the bean and pea meal spoken of, 
may, with advantage, in this country (at least in the pres- 
ent condition of our agriculture and variety of crops 



278 DISEASES OP CATTLE. 

produced) give good place to our Indian or corn meal. 
The turnips may be supplanted by beet or mangold, etc. 
Turnips as a crop, farmers do not, as a class with us, ap- 
preciate the true value of, either as a feed for cows or as an 
improver of manure — lying at the base of true agriculture : 

Experience soon taught me that most milk and butter 
were produced when the feeding was most carefully at- 
tended to. In order to insure this, I superintended this 
department myself, and shall give the management as 
systematically followed. In winter, at six o'clock in the 
morning two arms windling — an armful tightly wound up 
between them. Afterwards they were well cleaned, the 
stalls being also well littered, and the doors of the cow- 
houses shut until eight o'clock, when all were called to the 
milking. At ten o'clock, an ordinary sized barrowful of 
turnips was given between three cows, and when the 
turnips were not to be had, a quart of peas or bean meal 
was given instead, mixed with a pint of cold water. 
There is no feeding, however, equal to turnips, especially 
the yellow Aberdeen. A richer taste and color is im- 
parted to the butter produced by this root than from any 
other kind of feeding in the early part of winter — while 
a larger quantity both of butter and milk is produced 
thereby. In the spring, when the feeding properties of 
this root are very much deteriorated, a small quantity of 
peas or bean meal will be found needful to keep up the 
full return of milk. The peas or bean meal are preferable 
to oil-cake or locust-beans, as both of the latter give the 
milk and butter a hard flavor. 

About one o'clock, the cows should be let out to water- 
ing, and when weather is mild and otherwise favorable, 
fresh air will be found to be of very great advantage to the 
general health of the dairy stock. When the cows are at 



FEVER. 279 

large, the cow-houses should be thoroughly cleaned in 
every nook and corner, the doors being left open to admit 
fresh air, weather being seasonable. While kept in the 
house, let them have a drink of meal and water twice a 
day; a handful of oatmeal and three pints of lukewarm 
water will be sufficient. In the first draught, let a handful 
of salt be given. 

When the cow-houses are well aired, a windling of straw 
should be given between two cows as they return from 
watering. Upon the supposition that the cow-houses are 
■well-ventilated from the roof, the doors should be shut. 
About four or five o'clock, turnip should be given in quan- 
tity as before ; or, failing turnip, the above-named substitute. 
The time of feeding should be regulated according to the 
season ; milking -time also should be so fixed that it may be 
regularly kept — and kept so as to be suitable not only for 
the parties engaging in it, but so as not unduly to disturb 
either the rest or feeding of the cows. 

At eight o'clock a windling of good meadow hay between 
two cows should be given for supper, the quantity being 
always regulated according to what each cow can consume. 
It is a great mistake to keep fodder in quantities lying 
unused ; rather let the appetite be tested, and by keeping 
it always sharp, not only will each meal be eaten up with 
relish, but a more healthful state will be maintained. In 
addition to this hay, cows that have recently calved should 
get half a pailful of boiled turnip, mixed with a quart of 
peas or bean meal rather more than lukewarm. For four 
or five days after calving, cows should have no turnips. 

Fever. — Cows are subject to ephemeral fever, or more 
plainly speaking, a fever of a day's duration, which passes 
off without any trouble. This fever has been thought, by 



280 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

some persons, to depend upon hollow horn and wolf in the 
tail, and they have consequently cut the tail, and bored the 
horns of the poor dumb brute. 

Foul Claw. — Foul in the Foot. This is a sore between 
the digital spaces, and is caused by the animal standing in 
mud and moisture, which scalds the parts, and produces 
lameness. 

Treatment. Cleanse out with a hair rope or by some 
other means, and apply sulphate of zinc, one drachm; 
water, half a pint. Keep the feet dry and clean, which 
will not only assist the cure, but is a preventive also. 

Gangrene of the Tail. — Gangrena Caudce Epizootica. 
This is not, as yet, at all events, an American disease, but 
is of frequent occurrence among the cows of continental 
Europe. This fact, however, I believe to be the only true 
reason why we in Pennsylvania will persist that cows have 
wolf in the tail, accompanied with an empty horn. 

Cause. Unknown. 

Symptoms. We are told by Hering and Rychner that 
the tail becomes paralyzed, its skin soft, swollen, and filled 
with water at its end, and when opened, a bad-smelling 
ichor is discharged. The disease spreads upwards, where 
finally separation of the tail takes place, leaving the animal 
without one. 

Garget Mammitis. — Inflammation of the udder in 
cows is often of a very troublesome character. In occurs 
shortly after calving, and in some instances not for a week 
or two after. The inflammation is usually confined to one 
quarter of the udder only, and may be of an acute, or 
chronic character- 

Cause. Want of proper attention in not milking the 
cow sufficiently after calving, and in many cases by not 



GARGET MAMMITIS. 28 1 

milking the cow when her udder is almost ready (o burst, 
even before calving. In a word, if the udder, teats and 
milk ducts are kept from over-gorgement, there can be no 
udder disease. The trouble is, that all cows are not alike 
in the production of milk, but unfortunately they receive 
the same treatment; and hence those cows which are en- 
dowed with great milking qualities are usually the victims 
of garget. 

Symptoms. Heat, redness and pain, followed in a day 
or so by elevated swellings, which, if acute, will grow to 
a point, becoming soft and fluctuating, and containing pus; 
and if not opened at this stage, fistulous sores will be 
formed, which may cause the final destruction of one por- 
tion of the udder. 

When the heat and redness is not followed by swelling 
containing pus, it is called chronic garget. In addition to 
these symptoms, the cow will have shivers and chills, not 
from cold, but from the muscular rigor which is set up in 
cases of extensive suppuration. 

Treatment. In the acute form, apply warm poultices to 
hasten suppuration or Dealing. Where the parts point, and 
contain fluid or pus, open deeply at the lowest point, that 
the pus may escape without forcing. When properly dis- 
charged, heal as for a common sore. (See Ointments in 
the part of this book treating upon Horse and Cattle 
Medicines.) For chronic garget, use a cold application, 
so as to put it back, if possible ; if not, hasten the sup- 
purative process, and treat as for the acute form. What- 
ever treatment may be adopted, by all means do not forget 
to milk the udder severely, and the best plan will be to 
put two strong calves to suck, for by so doing the pus 
may be drawn off by them. 



282 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

Gastro-Enteritis in Calves. — (See Diarrhoea in 

Calves.) 

Glossitis— Anthrax— Blain. — This is a disease af- 
fecting the tongue, and can only be taken for epizootic 
aphtha, already described. Although apparently situated 
in the tongue, it is a constitutional disease — a blood poison 
in fact. This is also an epizootic disease, and as usual, it 
is thought to be contagious, which is equivalent to saving, 
we know nothing of its cause or mode of warfare. Few 
veterinary surgeons, or horse doctors, have, it would seem, 
ever known of zumins, ferments or leavens, as the Scrip- 
tures have it, for not in any work on veterinary science or 
animal husbandry are any of these words mentioned; nor 
is a hint thrown out that such agents do exist, and have a 
deleterious effect upon the health of animals. I am satis- 
fied that upon further inquiry and investigation, ferments 
will be found the only cause of such diseases as are at 
present involved in darkness and obscurity. 

Symptoms. Loss of appetite, saliva flowing from the 
mouth ; the tongue red, swollen, and inflamed, thus arrest- 
ing mastication, or chewing; the muzzle or lips, head and 
neck swell; breathing disturbed. Appearances of suffo- 
cation set in, the saliva is offensive to smell, and tinged 
with blood; the basis of the discharge is of a greenish 
color, not unlike vomicce seen in the lungs of glandered 
horses and consumptive men. In this condition, the ani 
mal will live from two to four days. 

Treatment. Lance the turgid tongue to relieve conges- 
tion, wash the mouth with vinegar, and administer a slight 
purgative. Give one pound of epsom salts in two bottles 
of water, sweetened with molasses ; a little powdered gin- 
ger may be added. Allow the animal plenty of cold water to 



HIDE BOUND. 283 

drink, to cool the mouth and tongue, and furnish pure air. 
Follow with two drachms of the sulphate of iron, and an 
ounce each of ginger, fenugreek and sulphite of soda twice 
in the day, which will give strength to the body, and purity 
to the blood. 

Hematuria — Bloodin the Urine. — This occurrence 
is not to be confounded with red water. Coagulated, or 
congealed blood comes when the first flow of water is dis- 
charged, and the remainder of the urine is clear. 

Cause. Blows or other injuries over the region of the 
kidneys, or from eating the leaves or tops of plants having 
a powerful diuretic effect, such as some of the yews, cedars 
and savins. Cows in calf, and mares with foal, will eat 
what other animals, or what they themselves would not eat 
when in other condition. (See Red Water.) 

Treatment. Give linseed tea to drink, and slush mashes 
and plenty of fluids to drink. No medicine will be re- 
quired. 

Hair Balls. — These are very common in cattle, and 
are introduced by the animal licking itself and swallowing 
the hair. These balls are found after death, and are of 
various sizes, and thoroughly felted. 

Herpes. — (See Mange.) 

Hide Bound, — This is not to be taken as a disease, 
but merely the result of faulty digestion and assimilation. 

Treatment. Give one pound of epsom salts, half an ounce 
of ginger, and mix in two bottles of cold water, sweetened 
with molasses. Next day follow with the following pow- 
ders : Powdered ginger, one ounce ; fenugreek, one ounce ; 
caraway seeds, half an ounce ; mix, and give in one dose ; 
and one dose may be given daily for a week. 



284 DISEASES OP CATTLE. 

Hoose in Calves. — This is a common disease in 
breeding districts, and is very fatal in its results, attacking 
young calves and cattle, till two years old. It is a para- 
sitic disease. 

Cause. The presence of minute worms in the bronchial 
tubes. These worms are called filar ia. bronchi, and inhabit 
the windpipe of young cattle, sheep and lambs. 

Prevention. Keep calves, sheep and lambs on dry land, 
where there is no marsh, wet land or meadow. 

Symptoms. Constant, husky cough ; difficulty in breath- 
ing; emaciation, and loss of appetite. Thus the disease 
goes on from bad to worse, until death takes place in from 
two to three weeks, depending much, however, upon the 
age of the beast. 

Treatment. Linseed oil, two ounces; oil or spirits of 
turpentine, half an ounce, well mixed with the linseed oil. 
This dose is for a calf of six months old. It should be 
repeated every two days. Give the calves good feed, such 
as oil cake, etc. Another form, and a good one, which is 
generally used in sheep to save expense and trouble, is to 
get them together, and drive them into a pretty close house 
or shed, not larger than will hold all the affected ones. 
Then procure an earthen bowl or basin, containing one 
ounce each of common salt and oxide of manganese, and 
pour over this a mixture, say, water, half an ounce; sul- 
phuric acid, one ounce and a half; stir with a stick, and 
chlorine gas will be evolved. When sufficiently stirred, 
leave the place, and close the door. Repeat the inhalations 
for two or three times, and let two days pass before each 
subsequent inhalation. If the animal be much weakened 
by the parasites, mix caraway and fenugreek in their 
feed, of each a quarter of an ounce, once a day, for a week 
or so. 



HOVEN. 285 

Hoven. — Tympanitis or Drum-belly. So called from the 
appearance and sound. The evolution, or giving off of 
carbonic acid gas, from the large quantity of grass or clover 
when wet, contained within the rumen or paunch, together 
with the suspension of the function of digestion, and peri- 
staltic action of the bowels — all of which combined, go to 
make up the disease called hoven. Hoven may occur in 
one hour, for we often see cows turned out to pasture in 
the morning, and are found almost suffocated in an hour 
afterward. In cases of this kind there is obviously no 
time to be lost. Every farmer should be prepared to meet 
and cure them as they occur, there being no time to run 
for assistance. 

Cause. Over-filling the paunch, and in too quick a 
time — before the stomach has time to act upon it; hence 
fermentation is set up. 

Symptoms. Great distress ; the sides are distended, and 
when struck, sound like a drum, the beast lying and rising ; 
the breathing is hurried ; there is great suffering, and if 
not speedily relieved, the rumen will give way, burst or 
rupture ; if this does not happen shortly, the brain becomes 
affected, and the beast dies unconscious. The disease runs 
its course with fearful rapidity. 




TROCAR, WITH CANULA. 



Treatment. At once plunge a dinner knife, well sharp- 
ened, into the side, or at equal distance from the haunch 



286 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

bone and short rib, on the left side of the animal. 
Veterinary surgeons use a trocar for this purpose, and 
every fanner should have one also. If the case be not a 
severe one, it may be entrusted to time, nature and medi- 
cine. Give half a pound of table mustard, and an ounce 
of the chloride of lime, mixed in as little cold water as will 
float the mustard out of the bottle, and down the throat of 
the animal. Or, instead of the mustard and lime, give 
one ounce of recently powdered carbonate of ammonia in 
cold water. Dashing cold water over the loins of the 
beast often cures the affection, by inducing reflex action of 
the nervous centres of the body. Sometimes we see a 
chronic form of this complaint, occurring at intervals, 
owing to a debilitated condition of the walls of the rumen, 
which is cured by the following powder, given morning 
and night in the feed : Powdered ginger, half an ounce; 
gentian, half an ounce ; fenugreek, half an ounce; mix, 
and give in one dose, and continue it for a few days. 

Hydatids in the Brain. — This is a parasitic disease 
— a worm found floating in a serous fluid, surrounded by 
a sack or small bladder, and situated generally on one side 
of the brain, and under or near the base of the horn. 

Cause. This affection is caused by the animal eating, 
with the feed or grass, some of the ova or eggs which have 
been dropped from dogs affected with tape-worms. 

Symptoms. The affected beast will be observed in the 
early season of the disease, to be affected in one of the eyes, 
ending shortly in total blindness of that organ. This, 
however, is not always the case. The great symptom 
chiefly to be relied upon, is the constant turning of the 
animal in the form of a circle. This, the animal will 
always persist in doing, and stop only when brought in 



INFLAMMATION. 287 

contact with a stone wall or fence, which prevents further 
circular turning. Unfortunately, the poor animal comes 
in contact with the wall with such force, and so often 
repeated, that on that side of the head will be seen swell- 
ings and enlargements of the bones of the jaw. In this 
way does the affected beast turn from day to day until 
emaciated from weakness and hunger. The end of some 
cases is frequently hastened by their falling into holes, 
rivers, etc. The inability to stop turning prevents the 
animal from gathering food, and hence the case terminates 
in starvation. 

Treatment. The success attending the treatment of such 
cases is very great. The cure consists in finding out the 
exact spot on the head over the hydatid, and boring 
through the bone with an instrument made for that pur- 
pose. As soon as the bone is bored through a small pair 
of forceps or tongs is put through it into the sack, and by 
this means, together with a syringe with a long nozzle to 
pump out what fluids there are in the cavity, the cure is 
completed. The hole, of course, will have to be closed by 
a pad or cloth, to exclude the air till it has closed by a 
new bone. (See Diseases of Sheep.) 

Inflammation. — Inflammation is the same in all ani- 
mals, but happily it is not common to the ox tribe. 
Indeed inflammation in all animals is not so common as it 
is usually represented to us to be. Irritation is oftener 
observed among animals and men, than inflammation, and 
disease with decreased force or power is more frequent than 
either diseases now-a-days ; or, it may be, we are better 
educated, and thereby can more readily discern the true 
conditions of diseases, than men of former times ; or, it 
may be from both causes combined, that we are able to. 



288 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

discern ^uch a change in diseases. However, the majority 
of diseases, now met with, are of a low type, and require 
for treatment not bleeding, but medicines and good feeding 
to support the powers of nature. 

Impaction of the Omasum, or Third Stomach. — 

In some parts of the world this disease is called " wood 
evil." So called because the stomach is filled with leaves, 
dried bramble and sticks or twigs, from bushes. These 
articles being deficient in nutritive matter, cause the sus- 
pension of rumination (chewing the cud) and digestion. 

Causes. In addition to the causes above given, we may 
add that of dried grass, which has been left standing in the 
field ; or in fact any kind of food, which does not contain 
essential principles for fat and blood-making, in proportion 
to its bulk, is sure to bring on an attack of wood evil or 
impaction of the third stomach. 

Symptoms. Loss of cud, loss of appetite, and quickened 
breathing, accompanied with a grunt. Diarrhoea is fol- 
lowed by constipation, great thirst; the legs, horns and 
ears are cold ; grinding of the teeth, and when the disease 
has about run its course, moaning takes the place of the 
grunt, diarrhoea succeeds costiveness, and the poor beast 
dies exhausted. Examinations after death disclose a curi- 
ous condition, namely : the third stomach is perfectly stuffed 
full with food, and it is so hard and dry, that it readily 
burns when fire is applied to it. 

Treatment. Allow the animal plenty of cold water to 
drink, so that the mechanical effects thereof may be advan- 
tageous in assisting to wash, dilute and moisten the dry 
mass. Give strong purgatives. Take epsom salts, one 
pound ; table salt, half a pound ; oil of croton, fifteen 
drops 5 mix, and give in one doge, in fully a gallon ef 



JAUNDICE. 289 

water ; for be it remembered that cattle should have all 
medicines given in large fluids, and it is more imperatively 
demanded in cases like this, where so much depends upon 
fluids. If twenty-four hours pass by without any effect 
from the salts, repeat the dose with an addition of two 
ounces of the spirits of turpentine. With this dose the 
purgative medicine should be stopped, whether it has had 
any effect or not. So long as the animal does not seem 
stupid or the brain be not affected, there are still hopes 
that recovery may reward our labors. (See Texan Fever.) 

Jaundice. — Icterus. This is a common disease in the 
ox, from the fact that he is supplied with a gall bladder, 
and gall in great quantity. Jaundice may be properly 
called biliary intoxication, or distribution of bile through- 
out the whole circulation of the body. 

Cause. Closure of the biliary ducts in the liver, and 
the consequent absorption of the bile into the stomach. 
The bile duct may be closed from gall-stoues. 

Symptoms. In white-skinned oxen, jaundice is seen at 
once from their yellow color. In dark-colored animals we 
are satisfied to examine the lining of the mouth, nose and 
eyes, for this yellow appearance. In addition to these 
signs, we have dullness and costiveness, while the dung is 
of a whitish or straw-colored look. 

Treatment. If the symptoms be not very prominent, 
the animal may be left with safety to the powers of nature, 
which can be assisted by giving slop food, or placing it 
upon bare pasture for few days. If the case be more of 
an acute kind, give a dose of purgative medicine, as fol- 
lows : Epsom salts, one pound; table salt, half a pound; 
ginger, half an ounce ; mix, and dissolve in four bottles 
of water, sweetened with molasses. 
19 



290 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

Kidney Disease. — Kidney disease in the ox is of a 

rare occurrence. Disease of the kidneys is more peculiar 
to animals whose lives are allowed to run longer than 
those of oxen, especially when fat and fit for market. 

Laryngitis. — (See Croup and Bronchitis.) 

LeucorrhcBa. — A discharge of muco-purulent matter 
from the womb and vagina of cows. 

Cause. Debility and bloodless condition of the system. 

Treatment. Iron, gentian, fenugreek, the mineral acids 
and good nourishing food are what is wanted to build up 
the system, and a weak solution of lime may be injected 
into the vagina once a day with a No. 6 syringe, to which 
is attached an 8-inch nozzle. Give the following powder, 
morning and night: Powdered sulphate of iron, two 
drachms; powdered gentian root, half an ounce; pow- 
dered ginger, half an ounce ; fenugreek, half an ounce ; 
mix, and give in one dose, and continue for a week. 
Commercial sulphuric acid in half ounce doses, by weight, 
may be given once a day in half a bucket of cold water, 
which the cow will readily drink. 

Lice. — (See Lice, in the first part of this book.) 

Liver Disease.— (See Jaundice.) 

Locked-jaw. — Kill the beast and dress it for market 
as soon as it is known that it is locked-jawed. 

Lung Diseases. — (See Pleuro-pneumonia*) 

Lymphangitis. — An affection of the ox tribe, fol- 
lowing an accident, which partakes of some of the charac- 
teristics attending farcy in horses, but without any specific 
poison being developed. 



MILK FEVER. 291 

Treatment. A dose of salts internally, and fomentations 
or poultices. Apply to the swelling and to the sores, if 
there be any, which will depend upon whether the skin 
gives way or not. 

Malignant Catarrh.— (See Catarrh us, etc.) 

Mammitis. — (See Garget.) 

Mange. — (See Mange, in the first part of this book.) 

Milk Fever. — Febris Lactea — Metria. Milk fever oc- 
curs from the first to the third day after calving; rarely after 
the third day. It is seldom met with before the fourth 
calving, then attacking chiefly cows of select breeds, and 
good milkers. Milk fever consists in inflammation of the 
womb, which sometimes even extends to the bowels. 

Symptoms. Loss of appetite ; chewing the cud, or rumi- 
nation ceases ; staggering gait, wild look, falls and cannot 
rise. If the disease be not checked the brain will soon be 
affected also, when the cow will dash about with her head 
and horns, plunging them into the ground. 

Cause. Undue determination of the blood to the womb 
from over feeding before, and immediately after calving, 
and from sudden changes of the weather at the time of 
calving;. 

Prevention. Give, one week before calving, one pound 
of epsom salts, half a pound of table salt, and half an 
ounce of ground ginger, mixed in four bottles of cold 
water and sweetened with molasses. Let the cows feed 
be of the lightest kind, such as hay and thin slop mashes 
and no meal, grain or solid food. This measure will 
lessen the tendency to interruption of the circulation, and 
will improve the health and tone of the whole system. 
To avoid, as much as possible, the effects of sudden changes 



292 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

of the weather, have the cow brought into the house. 
When milk fever is anticipated, give, a few hours after 
calving, twenty-five drops of the tincture of aconite root, 
which may be repeated every six hours, till four doses 
have been given. Nothing that I am acquainted with is 
as capable of equalizing the circulation of the blood by 
controlling the heart's action, and thereby the circulation, 
as aconite ; and for this purpose I highly recommend it 
to farmers and breeders of stock throughout the country. 
The foregoing measures, together with light slop feeding 
for a few days after calving, I am sure will prevent much 
suffering to the cow, and inconvenience and loss to the 
owner. 

Treatment. When the disease is present, give at once 
thirty drops of the tincture of aconite root, and half an 
ounce of the pure opium in powder, in a bottle of thin 
gruel. The aconite must be repeated every four hours 
without the opium, until four or five doses are given. 
Place chopped ice in a bag on the forehead, and attach it 
to the horns, renewing it when wanted. This being done 
quickly, at more leisure get epsom salts, one pound; table 
salt, one pound; ginger, half an ounce; mix, and dissolve 
in four bottles of cold water, with a little molasses to 
sweeten it, and give at one dose. After this medicine has 
been given, turn the cow from side to side every four hours, 
or when the aconite is given, which will save labor and 
unnecessary excitement to her. She should be left as quiet 
as possible, and her legs and body be kept warm, thereby 
relieving the womb to that extent. Do not deny pure air, 
nor plenty of cold water to the afflicted -animal, for she not 
only needs them, but they are indispensable to a sure and 
perfect recovery in most diseases, and as much so if not 
more in a disease of this kind. 



MUKRAIN. 293 

Milk Trembles. — This is a disease seen in the wooded 
country of the South and South-west, and depends upon 
cold, moisture and miasma. The disease disappears with 
improvements and clearing of the land from timber. 

Treatment. Give gentian, ginger, and fenugreek, of each, 
half an ounce; mix, and make one dose, which may be 
repeated once in the day. 

Moor Evil.— (See Red Water.) 

Mouth Disease. — (See Epizootic Aphtha.) 

Murrain. — This is one of the names given to diseases of 
cattle, which ought long ago to have been expunged from 
the books and writings of men who ought, if they do not, 
to know tha tthe word murrain means to die. By classi- 
cal scholars, orators, and poets, the use of the word murrain 
may be taken as an indication that they have read Virgil, 
Homer and Horace; but when cow doctors talk about the 
murrain, it conveys the reverse idea to that entertained 
when used by the orators and poet. Cattle plagues and 
murrain are excellent names, whereby the ignorant pre- 
tender may gain credit, among farmers and others, for a 
knowledge he never did possess. He may give the name 
of murrain to any disease or diseases, however different the 
one may be from the other in sign, symptom and seat, 
providing that the beast die. It will be observed, how- 
ever, that if the animal should live, murrain can't be its 
proper name. Murrain, as applied to cattle diseases, 
conveys no idea of the nature or seat of the disease. In 
some parts of the world, murrain is applied to epizootic 
aphtha, a disease affecting the mouth and feet — de lajievre 
aptheura — and withal, not deadly, or fatal. Without 
fatality, any intelligent person would naturally and know- 
ingly think that there can be no murrain, and the absurd- 



294 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

ity of the name so applied, can induce no very high 
opinion of cow doctors. 

Nephritis. — This is a name given to a disease, or in- 
flammation, of the kidneys. It is scarcely ever seen in 
the ox. 

Nervous Diseases. — These may be classed as follows: 
Brain diseases, apoplexy, inflammation of the brain, 
palsy, paralysis, loeked-jaw, twitching of the muscles, etc. 

(Estromania. — A term applied to cows when bulling. 

(Estrus Bovis. — The fly which deposits the eggs, from 
which the ox bot is developed. 

Osseous. Composed of bone; bony tumor. 

Ovarian Dropsy. This is a disease peculiar to milch 
cows, and consists of watery swellings of the ovary, but 
one ovary being usually affected. Ovarian dropsy is 
characterized by a large, soft swelling, situated upon the 
side of the cow, between the short rib and the thigh. 

Treatment. Tap the tumor with an instrument called a 
trocar, whereby the fluid is let out. When this is done, 
feed the cow well, and give her iron, gentian and ginger, 
to prevent further accumulation. 

Ovarian Tumor. — The difference between ovarian 
dropsy and ovarian tumor, as ascertained by the touch, is, 
the dropsy is soft and fluctuating, and the tumor hard and 
slightly movable. Ovarian tumors are generally hard, 
and similar to ccmeroid and encephaloid tumors found in 
man and animals. 

Treatment. Fatten the animal, and kill and send her to 
market, before she dies and becomes a complete loss. 

Palsy, or Paralysis. — This is a nervous disease, and 



PLEUROPNEUMONIA. 295 

is characterized by the animal having lost the power of 
standing. Palsy may be partial or complete. 

Causes. Tumors on the brain; injury to, or softening 
of the spinal cord. 

Symptoms. Inability of the animal to move, continued 
lying; will usually eat and drink as if nothing were 
amiss, and will continue to do so for many weeks. 

Treatment. We are in possession of only one drug, 
which is oftentimes of service in curing this disease, de- 
pending on whether the paralysis be from reflex action of 
the nerves of motion, or from entire suspension of feeling. 
If the case be from reflex action, then this medicine 
had better not be given ; but if the nervous feeling be en- 
tirely lost, strychnia may then be given in one grain doses 
twice in the day in the animal's feed, and continued for 
a week or two. 

Parasitic Lung Disease.— (See Hoose.) 

Parturient Fever. — (See Milk Fever.) 

Phthisis. — (See Consumption and Diarrhoea.) 

Placenta. — This is a name given to the after-birth. 

Plethora. — Fatness; full of blood. 

Pleurisy. — This is inflammation of the pleura, or 
white, fibrous, serous tissue lining the ribs within the 
chest, and the covering of the lungs. For further par- 
ticulars, see the following article. 

Pleuro- pneumonia. — "Massachusetts Cattle Disease" 
— Epizootic Pleuro-pneumonia. PI euro-pneumonia is a 
compound disease, as its name indicates — pleuro and pneu- 
monia. My own opinion is, however, and it is almost a 
certainty, I think, that the single name pleurisy would 
cover the whole ground ; for the pathology of the disease 



296 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

unmistakably points to this one fact that the lungs are not 
affected as a disease from the beginning, but the solid, 
spotted and mottled conditions of the lungs are but the 
effects of disease of the pleural eovering,and the consequent 
effusions of serum into the chest, floating and surrounding 
the lungs, together with weakness, low vitality, and debili- 
ty of the animal affected. This, then, is the reason why 
the lungs have become diseased, and the consequent 
double name given to the affection. 

However much men may doubt it, this disease is nothing 
more than buccal inflammation, extending from the cover- 
ings of the mouth and nose down to the pleural membranes 
within the chest, speedily followed by extensive outpour- 
ing of fluid called serum, and it is not till this fluid has 
accumulated in sufficient quantity that the evidence of 
disease show itself to the farmer or breeder. Cows are not 
so nervous, nor yet so excitable as horses, whether in 
health or sickness, and hence the abscence of those symp- 
toms in the early stage of the disease in cows, which are so 
early shown in horses, when affected by the same sickness. 
Farmers should remember this, for in early detection lies 
often the life of the animal. 

Again, and in support of my theory, if the lungs were 
one of the primary seats of the disease, it would not be 
reasonable to expect the animal to live for a week, and in 
some cases a month, as is the case with animals affected 
with this disease. In no disease of the lungs, excepting 
tubercles, will animals live so long as those do when 
affected with pleuro-pneu monia, thus entirely disproving 
the theory universally entertained by those who have an 
idea to offer upon the subject. 

The length of time animals live with this disease, to- 
gether with the serum, the condition of the lungs, and the 



PLEUEO-PNEUMONIA. 297 

adhesions so often seen connecting the lungs with the sides 
of the chest, does not go to prove the incurability of the 
disease at all, as has been so often asserted, but on the 
contrary, it goes to show the curability of the disease, and 
the ignorance of those who have been guilty of so bold and 
unwarranted an assertion, thereby deceiving the honest 
cow keeper and breeder to their great loss, and in some 
cases to their ruin. Pleuro-pneuraonia then I take to be a 
disease similar to typhoid influenza in the horse, affecting 
the white membranes of the nose, mouth, windpipe and 
chesty speedily followed by outpouring of fluid into the 
cavity of the thorax or chest, gradually increasing in 
volume, till the lungs are nearly submerged, solidifying 
them, thus arresting aeration, or proper oxygenation of the 
blood, together with shreds of plastic lymph connecting 
and interfering still further with the action of whatever 
healthy lung there maybe left : and thus by a gradual, 
but progressive process, the vital power gives way, and the 
poor beast dies from suffocation, or asphyxia, in from one 
week to two months or more — depending if the cow be in 
calf, and what condition otherwise the animal may be in. 
The better the condition, the longer will they live, and the 
more likely are they to live, even without medicine, thus 
giving the lie to its incurability. (See Bronchitis.) 

Cause. Some subtle poison in the atmosphere sometimes, 
which is not always present ; sudden and severe changes in 
the temperature, cold, heat, dryness and moisture, easterly 
winds, and possibly some other conditions which may be 
present, but not recognized, and which give rise to what 
is called the predisposing cause, for since we have those 
various changes in the condition of the weather, without 
producing the disease, something is wanted in the animal 
economy to act as a predisposing cause, two causes being 



298 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

necessary to produce epizootic disease, namely : the predis- 
posing cause, which resides in the system, and the exciting 
cause, which belongs to the atmosphere. Atmospheric 
cause is being clearly proven from the fact of the early 
symptoms of the disease being irritation of the mucous 
membranes of the nostrils, nose, eyes, etc. That this may 
be properly understood, let any person enter the too 
frequently over-heated lecture room or theatre, with its 
impure air, and on coming out to the keen air of night, 
how readily the membranes of the eyes drop tears, and 
sneezing from irritation of the nose takes place. Pleuro- 
pneumonia being a disease chiefly attacking milch cows 
and working oxen, and rarely affecting herds of cattle in 
the field, we are carried back again in our inquiries to the 
cow house, barn yard and its surroundings. There we 
find the slop feed stimulating the cow to over-secretion of 
milk, and at the expense of her general health and condi- 
tion — the smoking and putrefying dung heap — the imper- 
fect ventilation and over-heated stable — the giving of stim- 
ulating feed, and immediately after turning the heated cow 
out to the cold, and sometimes frozen watering trough, 
to quench her thirst. In one or other of these anomalies, 
or all combined, will be found the cause of this epizootic 
disease — contagion, if it is really contagious, which I 
honestly doubt and even deny ; however, if so, then they 
cannot be the only exciting and predisposing causes of the 
disease. 

Symptoms. As has been already stated, the early symp- 
toms are irritation of the membranes of the nose, windpipe, 
etc. The symptoms of this irritation are not perceived by 
the farmer, till effusions of fluid are poured into the chest 
in considerable quantities, interfering with the movements 
of the lungs, and consequently the breathing or respiration ; 



PLEUROPNEUMONIA. 299 

then — and then only does the farmer observe that the 
animal is sick. The presence of irritation in the windpipe 
can be detected by placing the ear close to the windpipe, 
previously tightening the skin upon it, when a slight 
grating sound is heard. The immediate effect of irritation 
of the windpipe of the cow, is a slight discharge of an 
acrid fluid, of the appearance of water, from the corners of 
the eyes and nose, which is, however, sometimes so slight 
that most persons fail to see it, and if they did, would 
attach no importance to it — so the first, and most impor- 
tant time and symptom is passed by uncared for, unheeded 
and unchecked. The next and important symptom is a 
half-involuntary cough, or rather a husking sound — not the 
clear cough which horses give, when similarly affected. 
When cough is heard, it may then be said the incubative 
stage has passed away. I have said incubative, although 
not believing in the existence of such a thing, if it be not 
in the passive condition of the minds of men, who give 
credence to such a theory. The milk now becomes smaller 
in quantity, thin and blue; cough louder and often er ; 
breathing quick and labored, accompanied with a grunt; 
rumination is irregular, and the appetite precarious. Such 
then are the symptoms that may be seen by the ordinary 
observer. Auscultation and percussion applied to the 
sides of the chest, are not to be relied upon by persons 
who are not accustomed to the chest murmurs, or sounds 
in health and diseases. Animals in good condition rally 
from the attack and get well, without assistance from 
medicine or art. In weak and low-conditioned animals the 
disease and symptoms are gradual and progressive, and 
they finally die in from two weeks to two months. 

Treatment. The success of the treatment here recom- 
mended, will depend upon, 1st. Whether the animal be in 



300 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

good or low condition ; 2d. Whether the cow be heavy 
with calf; 3d. Whether the disease has been discovered, 
and treatment applied in good season. These are impor- 
tant inquiries, having much depending upon them, for this 
disease is much more frequent and fatal in cows heavy with 
calf, and animals in low condition. If the disease has been 
observed within forty-eight hours from the time of attack, 
give the following powders every four hours between six 
o'clock in the morning and ten at night, or at six, ten, 
two, six and ten o'clock : 

Tincture of aconite root, two drachms and a half; pow- 
dered gentian root, three ounces; powdered ginger root, 
three ounces; sulphate of iron, two ounces; mix well, 
and divide into five powders and give as above directed. 
After the five powders have been given, continue with the 
same powders, but without the aconite, and give them only 
three times in the day, instead of five as above directed. 
Half an ounce of the sulphite of soda may be added to each 
powder with advantage. The powder will have to be 
mixed in a large bottle of water, and sweetened with 
molasses. Allow plenty of pure air, cold water and good 
strong feed, but not too much at a time; this will be better 
than thin, poor and non-strengthening slop, which is so 
injurious and deceptive, and so often recommended and 
adopted in cases of sickness. In the early stages of the 
disease, the carbonate of ammonia given in three drachm 
doses, along with the other powders, will do much good. 
There are two points I have ever sought to obtain, in the 
treatment of this disease: 1st. To maintain the appetite. 
2d. To restore and maintain it, if it be lost. 

Prolapsus Vaginae. — Proeidenta. This is a protru- 
sion of the womb through the vulva, and is an accident of 



KAILWAY DISEASE. 301 

frequent occurrence with cows when accumulating flesh 
fast, and also among cows denominated bullers. Some- 
times, however, it may be due to tumors, or dropsy in the 
womb or ovaries. 

Treatment. If from ovarian disease, spay the cow, and 
in simple cases elevate the hind parts of the cow, by 
making the stall lower at front and higher behind, placing 
a pad on the parts, after the manner described, under the 
article Falling of the Womb. 

Prolapsus Vesicae. — (See Bladder, Diseases of the.) 

Prurigo Vernalis. — This is a disease peculiar to the 
Spring of the year, and characterized by extreme itchiness 
— the body being covered with inflammatory spots, which 
discharge pus, and form scabs that fall off and leave the 
parts bald, or without hair. 

Treatment. Give a dose of epsom salts, and fumigate 
the beast with sulphurous acid gas. (See Sulphurous 
Acid Gas, in article on Horse and Cattle Medicines.) 
Give good feeding and good shelter. 

Puerperal Fever. — (See Milk Fever.) 

Quarter Evil. — (See Black Leg.) 

Railway Disease of Cattle. —The summer of 1867 
showed very clearly the existence of a disease developed 
by the transportation of cattle to the markets of New York 
and other cities from the saline plains and pastures of the 
West. For the want of a better name, we have designated 
it as above, not being satisfied of its identity with that 
disease commonly called " Texan Fever ; " because the 
cattle of Texas and of the Cherokee nation are not known 
to be ever sick from Texan or other diseases, except from 



302 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

starvation in dry seasons, from which they have been 
known to die by thousands. (See Texan Fever.) Rail- 
way disease is characterized by weakness, debility, and 
fever, with complete absorption of all the fluids of the body. 
These conditions naturally arise, 1st. Because of the salty 
nature of much of their late pastures, which tend, greatly 
to the loss of the animal fluids and increased desire for 
water as a consequence of the action of salt upon the ani- 
mal economy. 2d. The crowding of large numbers in 
cars without food or water, except, perhaps at long and 
insufficient intervals of time, together with want of air, 
proper attention, and expedition in their transportation 
during the heated season of the year. 

Remove the cause, and the effect will cease, is particu- 
larly applicable to this disease. 

Red Water. — This is a disease of milch cows soon 
after calving, and consists in an altered condition of the 
blood, in which the red globules are broken up, and the 
coloring matter which is called hemafosin escapes and is 
passed with the urine. 

Cause. Obscure, but assigned to local causes such aa 
the peculiar properties of certain herbs or grasses which 
the cows feed upon. My opinion, however, is that the 
cause will be found to be local congestion, the red coloring 
matter is but the product — red -colored serum. 

Symptoms. Diarrhoea lasting for a day or two, followed 
by constipation ; urine of a brown color changing to a 
deep red, and in the last and fatal stages to a black, 
resembling porter. 

Post-mortem. Appearances confirm my opinion that it 
is local congestion that gives rise to red water. The liver 
and kidney being chiefly implicated. 



RINGWORM. 303 

Treatment. Give a strong dose of epsom and common 
table salt, one pound each, and half an ounce of ginger, dis- 
solved in four bottles of water, and sweetened with molasses. 
Give mashes pretty well wet, and in a day or two follow 
by giving powdered ginger root, half an ounce; powdered 
gentian root, half an ounce; powdered fenugreek, half an 
ounce; mix, and make one dose; give one dose twice in 
the day, till sufficient improvement takes place to warrant 
no further medicine being given. To hasten recovery, 
give good and generous feeding, which will also assist in 
making blood for hat which has been lost. 

Reticulum. — The second stomach, so called from ret, 
or net like, and is sometimes called the honeycomb. 

Retroflexion of the Womb. — Retroflexion is said to 
be present when the canal is bent on itself. 

Retroversion of the Womb. — This term is applied 

when the canal is straight. 

Rheumatism. — (See Rheumatism, in the first part of 
this book.) 

Rinderpest. — This is the Dutch name for Cattle 
Plague. So much do I abhor the employment of such 
ignorant and unmeaning names, that I cannot but enter- 
tain a poor opinion of the scientific attainments of those 
who constantly use them. The disease will be found treated 
of under the article Typhus Contagiosus Boum, (contagious 
typhus of cattle.) 

Ringworm. — This is a parasitic disease, and consists 
in the growth of cellular tumors on the skin. Young 
animals of one and two years are most subject to the attack 
of the parasites. 

Symptoms. Broad and flattened elevations on the skin. 



304 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

Treatment. If left to themselves they will die out in a 
year. The oxide of zinc ointment will speedily cure the 
affection. It is considered a contagious disease, although 
not a fatal one. (See Ointments in article on Horse and 
Cattle Medicines.) 

Rot. — (See Diarrhoea and Consumption.) 

Rumen Or Paunch. — This is the first stomach, and is 
the receptacle for all food that is gathered, which is kept 
there till wanted, or till the rumen is full, when rumina- 
tion is usually begun by contraction of the rumen upon its 
contents, whereby portions of the food are forced into the 
gullet and mouth, to be reinasticated, and finally passed 
down the gullet again. It does not, however, pass over 
the floor of the canal this time, but separates the pillars, 
and goes, not into the rumen, but into the manyplus, or 
third stomach. 

Rupture in Calves. — The rupture we are now con- 
sidering is what is known by the name umbilical, which 
occurs in young colts and calves, and consists in the pro- 
trusion of a portion of the bowel and intestine through 
the navel, thus forming a small tumor. This condition is 
often congenital, or found on the calf at birth. 

Treatment. Force the bowel up into the belly, gather the 
loose skin together, tie a well waxed cord tightly round it 
close to the belly, and a strong pin may be forced through 
the skin below the ligature or cord, to keep it from falling 
off before the loose skin comes away. In a few days the 
skin will fall off, leaving a healthy sore without any hole 
or rupture. 

Another form of treatment is to place a bandage round 
the body, and a pad over the rupture, as is recommended 
for the same condition in colts, (which see.) Whatever 



SPAYED COWS. 305 

the plan that may be adopted for the cure of umbilical 
hernia in calves, they must be kept separate from one 
another, as each will suck the other, thus preventing 
closure of the rupture and healing of the parts. 

Siberian Boil Plague. — Carbuncular Disease. This 
is one of those diseases affecting cattle on the Russian 
Siberian Steppes. It is a blood poison or pyemia, and is 
closely allied to the other Russian Steppe disease, com- 
monly called rinderpest and cattle plague. 

Slinking the Calf. — (See Abortion.) 

Sore Throat. — (See Bronchitis.) 

Spaying. — This is the name given to an operation 
for the removal of the ovaries or female testicles from the 
milch cow and young female oxen. The object of the 
removal of the ovaries from young cows that never have 
had a calf, is to prevent them from ever having a desire for 
the male, so that she will be the more easily fattened and 
fitted for the market. Young cows so operated upon, are 
henceforth called heifers. 

Spayed Cf ws, the Advantages of. — The following 
are the reasons why dairymen should spay their cows, 
when not intended for breeding : 

1. Spayed cows are more easily kept in good condition 
than cows not spayed. 

2. They are less liable to sickness of an epizootic kind, 
and when sick, more certain and easy of cure. 

3. When epizootic diseases are present in the vicinity, 
or even in the herd, spayed cows are always in condition, 
and fit for the butcher. To prevent loss and save expense 
in the treatment, with the attendant risk of loss of some, 
and loss of condition and milk of all that are affected, they 

20 



306 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

can be sold without loss — which is not the case with cows 
not spayed, and when plearo-pneumonia is among them. 

4. Spayed cows give the same quantity and quality of 
milk all the year round, if they are properly fed and cared 
for. 

5. Ten spayed cows will give the year round as much 
milk as double the number of cows not spayed, thus saving 
the interest on the outlay for ten cows together with the 
absence of risk from loss of some of the principal by death 
of one or more from sickness, or accident, not to speak of 
the feed of ten cows. Between the feed of ten cows and 
their manure, the farmer can best estimate the difference 
in value. 

6. With spayed cows there is no risk to run from milk 
fever, nor trouble with cows called bullers. 

7. To fatten a cow, spay her instead of giving her the 
bull, as is the present custom — by which feed and time are 
consumed, and the animal is not made very fat after all 
for she has to provide the fattening substance to the calf 
in the womb, which, if she had been spayed, would have 
been appropriated to herself; nor is this all, for the calf 
in the belly of the cow is at once discounted by the butcher 
as it is not a salable article in market. 

8. Spayed cows cannot abort or slink their calves. 
Having thus had a bird's eye view of the advantages to 

be derived from spayed cows, let us look in the same 
manner at the disadvantages of spayed ones. 

1. The expense of the operation and attendant risk of 
the animal dying — although this is not great, (about one in 
the hundred.) The expense of the operation will be from 
three to five dollars, which will depend upon the distance 
the operator has to travel, and how many animals are to be 
operated upon. 



STRANGULATION. 307 

2. Spayed cows are apt to accumulate fat and flesh, so 
that they will become dry much sooner than cows not 
spayed. Still there can be little loss, for a fat cow is 
always ready for sale. These, then, are the objections to 
the spaying of cows, if objections they may be called. We 
now leave the subject to those who are more immediately 
interested. 

Spleenic Apoplexy. — This is a new disease, consist- 
ing in engorgement of the spleen with blood, and the subse- 
quent rupture of the organ, followed by death in from 
twelve to twenty-four hours from the time of attack. 

Cause. This disease is clearly traceable to the new, and 
what is wrongfully called improved feeding and fattening 
of cattle. Food, rich in nutritive qualities, and deficient 
in fluids, is the great cause of spleenic apoplexy in cattle. 

Symptoms. Constitutional disturbance is set up all at 
once, and no early symptoms manifested. The animal is 
w T ell to every appearance at one time in the day and dead 
by evening. When the symptoms are seen, they are as 
follows: Colicky pains, twitching of the muscles, stagger- 
ing gait, frothing from the mouth, and the urine colored 
and mixed with blood. The animal falls and dies, the 
immediate cause of death being coma, from derangement 
of the brain. 

Treatment. Treat the case by way of prevention with 
low diet. No treatment, however well directed, is of any 
use when the disease has once manifested itself. Life is 
prolonged a few hours by blood letting, but no cure can 
be effected. 

Spring Eruption. — (See Ringworm.) 

Stomach Staggers. — (See Hoven.) 

Strangulation. — (See Choking.) 



308 DISEASES OP CATTLE. 

Sturdy. — (See Hydatides.) 

Teats. — Teats of milch cows are often subject to dis- 
eases and derangement. 

1st. Milk stones sometimes stop the flow of milk, and 
are felt within the milk channel, when the teat is pressed 
between the fingers. For their removal, take a silver 
probe or knitting needle, and, if possible, force the obstruc- 
tion up into the udder. 

2d. Strictures of the milk channel of the teat cause a 
small stream of milk to flow, and impair the usefulness of 
that quarter of the udder. This can also be remedied by 
using a silver probe or needle, commencing, however, with 
a small size, and gradually using thicker or larger ones, 
till the channel is as large as wanted. This operation will 
have to be carried on for a week or two, the first day using 
the small probe three times in the day, and following the 
next day with the larger size, and so continuing with other 
sizes, till finally cured. 

3d. Warts are of occasional trouble to the cow, and to 
those who milk her. Irritation, and sometimes swelling 
is induced, which cause closure in the channel of the teat. 
Warts are to be removed by a pair of sharp scissors. 




MILK SYPHON. 



4th. Sore teats are cured by the simple ointment, one 
ounce, and one drachm of the rust of copper, commonly 
called verdigris, added to it. The milk can be drawn from 
the teat by means of a tube, as is shown by the above 
illustration, called a milk syphon. 



TEXAN FEVER. 309 

Teeth, Diseased. — Diseases of the teeth in cattle are 
not so common as in horses. However, I have seen cases 
of a diseased tooth in cows, causing a bony enlargement 
on the lower jaw, and subsequently a fistulous opening, 
with discharges running from it. When disease of the 
roots of the upper teeth takes place, it is accompanied 
with a bad-smelling discharge from the nostril on the side 
on which the diseased tooth is. 

Texan Fever. — This is a disease accompanied with 
sympathetic fever, and is not confined to Texas alone ; 
for we see it more or less every year in the Eastern and 
Middle States, showing itself at the close of the summer 
months, and to the end of autumn. Texan fever is nothing 
more than the Fardle Bound of the European writers — 
impaction of the manyplus with withered and dried grass 
and herbage containing no moisture whatever : the stomach 
refusing to digest it. Heat/dryness and fever of the sys- 
tem is thus set up, with all their attendant consequences. 

Much has been said and written about the nature and 
cause of Texan Fever by nearly all persons who have had 
an idea upon the subject. The questionable theories pro- 
mulgated throughout the country in regard to the disease 
by Hon. Horace Capron, Commissioner of Agriculture 
at Washington, compel us to reiterate the fact that the 
affection is an impaction of the manyplus. Further than 
this, the bulletins that were issued from, or by authority 
of, the Agricultural Department, in 1867, concerning the 
disease, were not only unscientific and unsound, but in 
themselves contradictory, having no good effect upon those 
interested in the consumption of beef, and a positive injury 
to the cause of veterinary science in this country. Instead 
of a sensible view being taken as to the cause of the disease, 



310 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

nothing short of Fungi would suit the minds of the Botan- 
ist and Microscopist, Their conclusions called to my mind 
the story of Paddy's flea, which, when he put his finger 
upon it, was not there. Texan Fever is a misnomer, and 
it is not known in Texas or amongst the cattle of Texas, 
but amongst those of other States. It is even supposed In- 
many persons, well informed, that Texan cattle give dis- 
ease to other cattle that subsequently graze on pastures 
trodden by them. How ridiculous and unreasonable is 
this theory when viewed in the light of science and common 
sense. How can healthy oxen, and from a healthy coun- 
try, give or impart a disease they never had ? — cattle that 
never were amongst others having anything infectious or 
contagious? — impossible! Has it never entered into the 
minds of Mr. Capron or Gamgee, that the droves of hungry 
cattle on their way to market, from the rich, nutritious 
mesquit grass of Texas, feed extensively upon the dried 
tuft or Buffalo and Bermuda grasses of the States through 
which they pass, in the latter months of summer, and 
succeeding a good grass-growing spring ? Or, if so, have 
they ever asked themselves whether this fact has anything 
to do with the cause of Texan Fever? This is not a 
subject for the microscopist, but simply demands of us that 
we look with the naked eye to things as they are — to the 
consumption by hungry cattle of whatever of green or fresh 
grass there is to be found ; leaving to the native cattle the 
dry, innutritions, indigestible tufts, spindles and grass ! 
This is undoubtedly the real cause of the disease, however 
much some persons may be disposed to doubt it. The 
Hon. John Wentworth, of Illinois, though not seeing the 
cause of the disease, placed his cattle in a cordon, while they 
were surrounded by Texan cattle. All of them escaped 
the disease. On the other hand, cattle grazing on the 



THROAT DISEASES. 311 

pasture upon which the Texan cattle had been, became sick. 
Thus it is shown that our view of tiie cause of the disease 
is the only correct one ; for, if it be not so, Mr. Went- 
worth's cattle, from their proximity to those from Texas, 
would have taken sick also. No fence or enclosure, when 
the wind blows towards it, can or will keep out atmos- 
pheric air impregnated with an infection. 

Post-mortem. The heart, liver, lungs and spleen are 
congested ; the gall bladder is swollen to several times its 
natural size, and filled with a dark, yellowish-brown fluid ; 
the food in the stomach is in a hard, dry and caked con- 
dition, with no progress made towards digestion ; the 
stomach is friable and easily torn. We would here add 
that though the spleen be enlarged, heavy, and filled with 
blood, it is not a sufficient reason for the Commissioner of 
Agriculture to call the disease "Spleenic Fever;" it is the 
effect of a cause, and not the disease itself. 

Treatment. Give large doses of epsom or glauber salts, 
dissolved in great quantities of molasses water. If no 
relief follows in twenty-four hours, repeat the dose, bear- 
ing in mind all the while that great quantities of fluid or 
cold water is a means to overcome the dry condition of the 
impacted stomach. Indeed, the cure has a good deal of a 
mechanical nature about it, for large drenches of water 
with the salts, do not only assist their action, but in many 
cases wash and dissolve the dry feed into a soft mass or 
pulp, which will readily pass away, and the poor beast be 
relieved from pain, and cured. Suspect this disease when 
occurring after a good grass-growing spring, succeeded by 
a dry, scorching summer, converting grass into spindles 
containing no moisture, and little nutritive properties. 

Throat Diseases. — (See Bronchitis.) 



312 DISEASES OP CATTLE. 

Thrush. — (See Epizootic Aphtha.) 

Tongue of the Ox. — We speak of the tongue of the 
ox not for the purpose of referring to its diseases, for that 
has already been done in speaking of aphtha. Our design 
is simply to explain the difference in appearance between 
the tongue of the horse and that of the ox ; for occasion- 
ally they are seen side by side in provision stores and other 
places, and all sold as the tongue of the ox or cow. The 
appearance of a salted tongue of the horse is much shorter 
and broader at its tip, and is, withal, the finest looking. 
Those who are not aware of these facts are most likely to 
prefer and purchase the horse tongue to that of the ox. 
The ox tongue is long, and narrow at its point, and is used 
much the same as a cat handles its prehensile paw. The 
horse cannot do this, but gathers his food with his front 
teeth. Avoid the good-looking, broad and short tongue, 
and choose the long, narrow and irregular one; then you 
may be sure of the tongue of the ox. 

Tubercle Disease. — (See Consumption and Diarrhoea.) 
Tympanitis. — (See Hoven.) 

Typhus Contagiosus Bourn —Contagious Typhus 
of Cattle— Rinderpest— Cattle Plague— Steppe 
Disease— Loserdurre, etc.— This is one of those epi- 
zootic diseases which have, at distant and different periods 
of the world's history, attacked the ox tribe of Europe, 
and consists in inflammation and irritation of the fibrous, 
serous tissue, or white membranes of the nose, windpipe 
and chest, and instead of serum or fluid being poured out 
as a consequence, as is the case in epizootic pleuro-pneu- 
monia,the membranes become deteriorated, portions become 
detached, and some partially adhere, but all decay, and 
become a dangerous poison, which is gradually absorbed 



TYPHUS CONTAGIOUS BOUM. 313 

into the general circulation, speedily followed by fermenta- 
tion of the blood within the body, resulting in boils, or 
small carbuncles containing pus, which soon break and 
discharge. All of this is accompanied by sympathetic 
fever, (typhus so called,) gradual and progressive in its 
character, till the blood and tissue of the body are no 
longer fit for the purposes of life, and the animal dies an 
exhausted and miserable object, in from a few days to one, 
two and three weeks from the time of attack. 

Causes. Certain conditions of the air and earth, as heat 
and moisture, cold and dryness ; contagion. These may 
be called the exciting causes ; something still being wanted 
in the system of the animal to form the predisposing cause 
— as debility, and a low standard of general health. In- 
deed, the conditions which sometimes exist in, and form 
pleuro-pnenmonia, are capable of producing contagious 
typhus. I am borne out in this opinion by Jessen, who 
among the discordant opinions and theories of Europe, has 
declared the disease to be associated with pleuro-pneumonia. 
Dr. Green how also says that contagious typhus existed 
side by side with pulmonary disease in England, in the 
middle of the last century. Why theorize then any fur- 
ther? for it is so plain that those who run can read, that 
veterinary surgeons, politicians and notoriety hunters have, 
at the expense of the suffering farmers of Europe, con- 
tinned to perplex and puzzle too long. The same has 
been attempted in Pennsylvania, and other States of the 
Union, even in cases of simple sporadic pleuro-pneumonia 
in milch cows, whereby, with a power of metamorphosis 
far outstripping that of Publius Ovidius Naso, the one 
disease has, as if by the wand of the magician, been con- 
verted at once into that of another. 

Symptoms. We are told that the disease has its period 



314 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

of incubation, varying from four to fourteen days. This 
is simply nonsense. Where is the repeated incubation in 
cows when affected with pleuro-pneumonia? Nowhere, 
but in the minds of men who know nothing of pathology. 
Is incubation to be taken for blindness, and ignorance for 
science and education ? It may be asserted, with equal 
truth and justice, that the condemned culprit, or rather 
suspended animation, can date the period of incubation 
from the time of condemnation, however long that may be 
before the moment he is launched into eternity. The 
weeping eye, the acrid drop from the inner corner of the 
nostrils, together with slight rough sounds from the wind- 
pipe, will tell the intelligent and scientific observer that 
something is wrong, and all this can be told from twelve 
to twenty-four hours from the time of attack. Where, 
then, is the period of incubation ? Echo seems to answer, 
where? The husky cough, with dullness and prostration, 
follow the weeping eye and nostril. The back is arched, 
appetite and rumination irregular, the rigor and the chill 
tell that blood poison is present, and. suppuration is going 
on as a remedial and natural measure, to get rid of the 
foreign or poisonous matter in the blood. The breathing 
soon becomes labored, the heat of the body is variable, 
while the skin and hair look unhealthy, and fever gets 
high. If the mouth and nose be examined, eruptions and 
sores will be seen ; and these sometimes extend to the feet. 
All the foregoing symptoms are now speedily followed by 
discharges, from the nose and eyes, of pus streaked with 
blood. Salivation and diarrhoea supervene, together with 
stupor, and all the phenomena of approaching death. In 
this disease, as in pleuro-pneumonia, cows heavy with 
calf or otherwise debilitated, die sooner, and do not bear 
up so well as animals in better condition. The intelligent 



TYPHUS CONTAGIOSUS BOUM. 315 

and careful reader cannot fail to see several prominent and 
important symptoms common alike to this disease and 
epizootic pleuro-pneumonia, (which see.) 

Treatment. The correct method of treatment is at once 
apparent from the nature, symptoms and post-mortem, 
or appearances after death. All taken somatically and 
considered, amount to this, that the animal is affected with 
fermentation of the blood, consequent upon inflammation 
and deterioration of the fibrous, serous tissues of the body, 
accompanied with fever of a typhus type. Then the first 
thing to be done is, to build up the system and arrest 
fermentation by the elimination or neutralization of the 
zumin, leaven, or ferment. For this purpose then, order 
the following powder : Powdered carbonate of ammonia 
one ounce; powdered sulphate of iron or copper, three 
drachms ; powdered gentian root, half an ounce ; powdered 
ginger root, half an ounce; mix, and make one dose. 
Give one dose of this powder morning and night. In the 
middle of the day give one ounce of sulphite of soda daily. 
The animal must be fed well and in a generous manner, 
but not by any means to arrest digestion by over-feeding. 
Such, then, is about the plan I would recommend for the 
cure of contagious typhus in cattle. I would add how- 
ever, or take from, just as the indications appeared. Thus, 
I would have them daily inhale for an hour sulphurous 
acid gas. For the manner of using it, see Horse and Cattle 
Medicines in this book. 

The treatment here offered will cure a major part of all 
affected. The number will depend upon the condition of 
the animals, whether they are cows, and with calf, or are 
debilitated animals, etc. 

English Treatment. Professor Gam gee, the great veteri- 
narian says little can be done beyond purging the animal, 



316 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

etc., and adds that all treatment appears futile. Now the 
word "appears," in this case, implies a doubt. Scientific 
men should be more emphatic and particular in the words 
used. If there is any one remedy to be avoided in this 
disease of cattle, it is purging or physicking. Will a dose 
of physic cure blood poison, build up the system, and arrest 
typhus? The person who says so is certainly not fit to 
give an opinion on this particular subject. Out of many 
evils, choose that which is the least ; that is, restore the 
digestive functions with carminatives and tonics, and not 
physic ; remove the cause of the derangement and the 
effects will cease — but do not take the bull by the horns, 
or beard the lion in his den. A Mr. Dobson devotes 
nearly ten pages to the subject, and winds up with the 
following words : " We trust we have said enough to give 
our readers a fair idea of the nature and consequence of the 
Rinderpest." Mr. Dobson has not, as he seems to think, 
given either the true nature or pathology of the disease; 
and has not gone so far as Mr. Gamgee, for he lias not 
even so much as hinted that there is a dose of physic in 
existence. His article, however, has proved one thing, 
and that is, that a man can write much about what he 
really does not understand. The treatment, according to 
Mr. Moore, the veterinary homoeopath ist, is nearer the right 
kind than any English author I have heard of; but Mr. 
Moore, to be successful, will have to throw his infinitesimals 
to the dogs, and increase his doses. There are other 
authors of less note, but all follow in one beaten track, 
from which there seems to be no variableness nor shadow 
of turning. The minds of Englishmen all follow in one 
direct line of march, and will continue to do so with a 
bewitchment similar to that which shut out the truth from 
the foolish Galatiaus. 



VAGINAL CATARRH. 317 

Prevention. As has already been stated, it is a contagious 
disease, and to prevent its spread, isolation or separation 
will have to be adopted. 

Epizootic influenza in the horse, and pleuro-pneumonia 
in cattle, took twenty-one years to travel from Europe to 
the United States. Now, should contagious typhus in 
cattle travel at the same rate, we may expect to hear of it 
at any time. This disease broke out in England, in June, 
1865, and in one year it destroyed two hundred and fifty 
thousand, eight hundred and seventy-five (250,875) head 
of cattle. About thirty -three thousand, two hundred and 
thirty-five (33,235) recovered ; all the others died, or were 
killed to prevent contagion, and spread of the disease. To 
enter into a history of this disease would take up more time 
and space than can be afforded, and would only be a re- 
hearsal of what is already recorded in regard to the 
visitation upon English cattle in 1865. For an English 
history of this disease in all parts of the world, the reader 
is referred to a work of eight to nine hundred pages by 
Professor Gamgee, published in London. In this work 
much printed matter is discernible, but there is a great 
scarcity of information. Parliamentary reports, an Order 
from Privy Council, letters, editorials and suggestions 
that had been contained in the London Times, together 
with the reports and actions of the International Veteri- 
nary Congress, held on the Continent of Europe, go to 
make up this large book. 

Udder Diseases. — (See Garget.) 

Urine, Bloody. — (See Eed Water.) 

Vaginal Catarrh. — A disease in old cows a few weeks 
after calving. It resembles, and is treated the same as 
Leucorrhcea, (which see.) 



318 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 

Varicella Boum.— (See Chicken Pox.) 
Vertigo. — (See Stomach Staggers and Ho veil.) 

Warbles. — The product of the oestrus bovus or ox fly, 
from having deposited its ova or egg in the skin. It is a 
disease peculiar to the summer months, and is character- 
ized by tumors varying in size from a grain of corn to 
that of a hickory-nut. 

Treatment. Squeeze the tumor and the larva is forced out. 

Water in the Chest. — (See Pleuro-pneumonia.) 

Whites. — (See Leucorrhcea.) 

Worms. — (See Hoose.) 

Womb.— (See Falling of the Womb.) 



DISEASES OF SHEEP. 




Fo» the fol- 
lowing Essay on 
the Diseases of 
Sheep, Dr. Rob- 
ert McClnre was 
awarded a medal 
and diploma by 
the United States 
V 1 Agricultural So- 
ciety : 

The diseases of sheep which are laid under contribution 
are : First. Those that are the most frequent and destruc- 
tive, therefore of the greatest interest and concern to the 
sheep farmer. Second. Those in which treatment and 
preventative means can be employed with profit and suc- 
cess. Third. Those the pathology of which has been in a 
measure or entirely misunderstood, therefore wrongly 
treated, and the preventative measures neglected or mis- 
applied. 

These diseases will embrace a large number of maladies 
that have been treated of separately in the work by the 
late ¥m. Youatt as independent affections, when literally 
a great many diseases alluded to by this indefatigable 
writer are but different degrees and conditions of the same 
morbid phenomena. 

319 



320 DISEASES OF SHEEP. 

I would here say it is a pleasure to think that some 
addition has been made of late to the stock of veterinary 
knowledge as regards this useful animal, and I trust that 
the time is proximate when the good sense of American 
farmers will demand that a knowledge of the diseases and 
general management of sheep shall form a prominent 
feature in the education of the veterinary surgeon. 

Braxy-Enterites. — (Inflammation of the Bowels.) — 
Inflammation of the bowels is commonly known by the 
unmeaning name of " Braxy." * It is a disease of more 
frequent occurrence among this class of domestic animals 
than any other I know of, chiefly affecting young sheep in 
their first year, and in cold and stormy weather, and 
exposed situations. It is not (infrequent when sheep have 
been feeding on turnips in the winter season, to find in the 
morning, after a cold, wet night, as many as a dozen, out 
of a few score, dead, dying, or affected by this disease. 

Symptoms. They will be observed to be very restless; 
lying and rising; resting on one side, and then on the 
other; walking up and down as if looking for a place to 
lie down, but can find no place to suit. 

Treatment. Give castor oil, two ounces ; calomel, five 
grains; laudanum, two drachms ; molasses, two ounces; 
beat up with an egg, and as much warm water as will be 
sufficient for a small drench, to be poured out of the stroupe 
or pipe of a common tea or coffee pot. Repeat this in half 
doses every six hours. 

* Sheep affected by this disease are generally on the turnip field, 
and in good condition. If so, and the animal is very sick, never at- 
tempt to cure; as in most cases death will take place before medical 
agents (be they ever so well directed) can take effect. Therefore, it 
will be the better plan to cut the neck, letting out the blood, thereby 
Baving time and trouble, and preserving the mutton in good order. 



HYDROCEPHALUS HYDATIDEUS. 321 

Prevention. In stormy weather, and when they have 
been feeding upon turnips, particularly where fenced in, 
remove them to pasture a little elevated, and as sheltered 
as possible from the storm, until the weather improves, 
and the turnip or other fields become drier ; place common 
or rock salt in covered troughs, which will tend to keep 
their bowels open. Salt is a good laxative for cattle and 
sheep. 

DiarrhOBa. — Treatment. Powdered opium, two grains; 
powdered gentian and powdered ginger, one drachm each; 
mix. To be given in an infusion of linseed, and repeated 
if necessary. 

Hydrocephalus Hydatideus, Sturdy, etc. — A 

singular disease; a very prevalent and fatal one, if left to 
run its course; so much so, indeed, that in France alone, 
no less than one million sheep die yearly, or are destroyed 
by this pest of the ovine race. The symptoms by which 
this disease is accompanied are as follows : In the com- 
mencement, the animals will be observed to stop in the 
midst of their grazing, and then start away in a gallop 
over the field. They seem at times to be utterly uncon- 
scious of where they are, separating themselves from the 
rest of the herd. By-and-by they become dull, and have 
a peculiar staggering gait. If there is a brook or rivulet 
within their reach, you are almost sure to find them 
standing by it, apparently becoming giddy, not unfre- 
quently tumbling in, and thus being lost. They lose flesh, 
the countenance becomes haggard, and subsequently, the 
animals thus affected commence a rotary motion, going 
round and round in the same direction, with the head 
inclined to the same side of the body. Now it almost 
ceases to feed or ruminate, as it cannot restrain the rotary 
21 



322 DISEASES OF SHEEP. 

motions, and is becoming rapidly blind. Death generally 
ensues from starvation. 

Veterinary writers and agriculturists have differed very 
materially as to the cause of hydatid, some attributing it 
to certain poisonous plants — but these have never been 
pointed out ; others considering it a species of serous apo- 
plexy, and others still contending that it arises from local 
weakness of the brain, etc., etc. Autopsical examinations 
have, however, proved it to arise from a different cause, 
viz. : Coenurias cerebralis, or hydatid in the brain, found 
floating in a serous fluid, contained within a sac or bladder, 
thus constituting Sturdy, Gid, Turnsick, etc. It attacks 
sheep from the sixth to the eighteenth month. 

* Certainly the most common cause consists in the lamb 
or young sheep picking from the pastures the ova or larvae 
of the tcenia solium, which infests the shepherd's dog. If 
Echinococcus, polymorphus or vetrinorium, be swallowed 
by the dog, they are developed into tape-worm, with but 
few serrations. The minute ova are gathered and swal- 
lowed with the food of the sheep or lamb, and are taken 
up from the surface of the intestines. They find their way 
into the blood, and finding a convenient nidus among the 
loose textures of the brain, are there deposited. Nature 
sets to work and encloses these foreign bodies in a mem- 
branous sac, so that otherwise they may not produce fatal 
consequences, and in the short period of three months they 
are found to have reached the size of a filbert. 

Conversely, if these hydatids are swallowed by the dog, 
they are developed into tape-worms. Hydatids may be 
prevented in sheep by curing or preventing tape-worms in 
other animals, especially the dog. As before mentioned, 
hydatids only affect young sheep, and spring from the ova 
* Findlay Dun. 



HYDEOCEPHALUS HYDATIDEUS. 323 

of the taenia. Herds managed without dogs are found to 
be quite free from the disease. However, dogs may be used 
with impunity when the sheep are upwards of eighteen 
months old. 

Treatment. (The following is from the Practical 
Farmer, by the present writer.) The treatment of this 
infection, until lately, has been varied, barbarous, and 
cruel; one practising and recommending the cutting and 
pulling out the ears, and another of hunting the poor ani- 
mals with dogs, and, if possible, running them over some 
precipice, frequently maiming or killing them. A strong 
knitting-needle forced up the nostrils has long been used, 
with occasional success ; but a small case of instruments, 
consisting of four pieces, is much better and safer, and, 
if properly used, will cure from seventy to eighty sheep 
out of a hundred thus affected, and can be used by any 
intelligent shepherd or farmer with perfect safety. In 
operating, observe carefully the side to which the sheep 
turns, as it invariably turns to the side of the skull which 
is affected, and which must be first operated upon. Secure 
and tie fast all the four feet, and place the animal on a 
table. Let your assistant sit down on the end of the table. 
Clip away all wool from the brow, sides, and crown of the 
head. Ascertain, by the fingers, if the skull yields on 
pressure at any particular spot on the side to which the 
sheep turned : if so, shave the wool from the soft part. 
Use first the instrument with the adjusting screw, its use 
being to prepare for the other, it being made a little wider 
than the trocar, with canula, so that the silver may not be 
broken in piercing the bone. Care, however, must be taken 
to stop when the point is fairly through the skull : this is 
easily ascertained. The guard must then be screwed back. 
This done, take it out and insert the trocar and canula in 



324 DISEASES OF SHEEP. 

the same hole, until past the split in the silver canula; 
then withdraw the trocar, leaving the canula sticking in 
the head, when the water will be forced from the hydatid, 
showing that it has been pierced. Put the point of the 
syringe into the canula, and draw out repeatedly, emptying 
each time until no more water will come out, or the cyst, 
has been drawn into the canula, which now withdraw, 
taking care that the skin of the hydatid be caught hold of 
by the forceps, which the operator should have ready in 
his hand. Having removed the hydatid, leave the mouth 
of the wound open, only placing a piece of clean rag as a 
pledget over it, as water will escape for a day or two. 
Put on the angular hood to keep the cloth and padding in 
their place, and secure it by worsted ties. Care must be 
taken, if the sheep has not been able to eat for some days, 
that it get a bottle of gruel before operating, as the less 
disturbance it is subjected to for some hours after the 
operation the better, the brain taking a little time to adjust 
itself to the cavity that has been made by the removal of 
the hydatid. Neither must the sheep be put on too rich 
pasture, as on recovering they are apt to take too much 
food, which may cause inflammation in the head. Mark 
well the side that has been operated on, as it very fre- 
quently happens that there are more hydatids than one. 
In a week or two, if the sheep be observed turning to the 
opposite side, secure it a second time, and proceed as before. 
There are occasionally more than one or two in the same 
subject, and at the same time. Indeed, I have known as 
many as five, and not one of them less in size than theyolk 
of an egg. But two are quite common, one on each side 
of the brain, nearly under the seat of the horn. Occasion- 
ally there is one behind the first lobe of the brain, which 
is also easily taken out. 



PAKONYCHIA OVIUM. 325 

Louping 111. — Tabes Dorsalis — Phrenitis. In every- 
day language this is properly called inflammation of the 
brain. Youatt, in his work on sheep, has been at the 
trouble to write out no less than six different diseases, all 
of which might have been treated under this head, being 
essentially the same in character, cause, and effect. It 
is characterized by extreme dullness, followed by ex- 
citement and madness. In horses, these symptoms continue 
for about two days ; but in cattle and sheep, much longer. 
The seat of the disease is the pia mater, or the vascular 
internal membrane of the brain, which is found after death 
to be rough and yellow, with extravased lymph and serum 
at the base of the brain. 

Treatment. Give croton oil, six drops; syrup of ginger, 
one tablespoonful ; in a little gruel, so thin that it will run 
from the tea-pot. Apply cold water or ice to the head, 
and see that the poor animal does not hurt itself against 
the wall or fence. 

The causes of this disease are sometimes the result of 
injury to the head. It also arises from other than external 
injuries, the principal of which are exposure to cold, and 
a powerful sun in an exposed situation. But the most 
common causes are the eating from the pasture poisoning 
plant, or weeds, as the atropa belladonna, (deadly night- 
shade,) conium maculatum, (common hemlock,) cicuta 
virosa, (water hemlock,) delphinium staphysagria, (staves- 
acre,) felis fceomina, (female fern,) — all of which, if taken 
in sufficient quantity, will produce disease in the brain. 
I could easily swell the list of poisonous plants, but it is 
not my intention to include in this work information of so 
unimportant a character. 

Paronychia Ovium. — Foot-rot. This disease has 



326 DISEASES OF SHEEP. 

been more prevalent within the last thirty years than 
previous to that time, which is accounted for to some 
extent in the varieties and breeds of sheep and in the 
increasing number. So much is this so, that farmers can- 
not find highland pasture sufficient for them, and they 
are brought down and put on moist lowland pasture, where 
they can find plenty of food without travelling much; 
hence, the growth of horn is more than the wear, or the 
supply more than the demand. Subsequently the horn 
becomes over-grown and turns upon the sole, and bruising 
the sensitive structures, earth and sand soon find their way 
into the cavities produced, causing inflammation of the 
lamina?, lameness, and secretion of fetid pus. 

Causes. As before stated, it results from an increased 
supply of horn which turns up from the toe, pressing upon 
and irritating the sensitive structures of the foot. 

This affection of the feet is almost certain to follow the 
removal of heavy bred sheep, such as the black-faced 
Cheviot and Southdown, from their native and upland 
pastures to rich meadow and arable lands. Their native 
walks being rough and rugged — the grass not so plenty, 
which insure the sheep walking over a large tract of land 
in order to procure their food — hence the waste and supply 
of hoof is balanced. 

Treatment. Whenever the sheep is observed to go lame, 
it must be caught and the feet examined. Remove all 
filth and sand ; then cut off every loose and unsound 
portion of horn with a stout pocket knife, and apply the 
following to the sore parts: Oil of turpentine, two ounces ; 
sulphuric acid, half an ounce; oliv^ oil, one ounce; mix. 
To be applied with a small piece of sponge or cloth on the 
end of a stick ; or a goose feather will answer very well. 
If sores occur on the digital space (divisions) or elsewhere, 



psora. 327 

they should be touched with nitric acid or a little of the 
old butter of antimony, (terchloride of antimony,) by means 
of a feather. These appliances should be continued twice 
weekly, or as often as is necessary, until a change for the 
better takes place. 

Prevention. To prevent this disease, the growth of horn 
must be kept down ; and if the sheep are on soft land, 
they must be examined every month, and the superfluous 
horn must be cut off. Some shepherds advocate driving 
along a hard road to wear the hoofs ; I do not recommend 
such a course, as it does a great deal of harm. The 
better way is to drive them into a sheepfold and examine 
their feet. 

Draining and liming the land very often puts a stop to 
foot-rot; the drainage to harden and dry the land, the 
liming to remove the soft, mossy herbage, which is a great 
cause of the disease in sheep. It is not contagious in 
sheep; but in cattle, occurring in connection with murrain 
or vesicular epizootic, it is deadly contagious. 

Pneumonia. — Treatment Nitre, one drachm ; digitalis, 
twenty grains; tartar emetic, twenty grains; mix. To be 
given in linseed tea, once per day, in inflammation of the 
lungs, common cold accompanied with fever, or any disease, 
that is necessary to arrest the inordinate action of the heart. 

Psora. — Scabies — Scab. When a sheep or flock of 
sheep are affected with scab, which is easily known by 
their continually standing by the fence and rubbing posts, 
scratching, and tearing the wool off their back and sides, 
they will scarcely ever be seen grazing or lying down 
quietly and remasticating their food, as is the case with 
sheep in perfect health. This disease in sheep is the same 
as mange in horses, dogs and cattle ; and it is the result of 



328 DISEASES OF SHEEP. 

the attacks of minute insects, or mites (acari) burrowing 
in the skin, producing great irritation and itching, and 
manifesting itself in small pimples, with dryness, scurfiness 
and baldness of the skin. This disease is contagious; 
therefore, to prevent the spread of the infection, the healthy- 
must be separated from the diseased sheep. Keeping sheep 
clean, and occasionally washing in the summer season, in 
a great measure prevents a suitable nidus for the acari, 
and diminishes the prevalence of scab. Before putting 
healthy sheep on the same pasture, it will be necessary to 
wash all the rubbing posts with a solution of the chloride, 
or common lime, which will literally burn up the virus. 
To make the impossibility of infection doubly sure, (neat 
cattle and cows are as liable to take it as sheep,) the best 
plan is to take a crop of hay and turn it over for a crop of 
corn, or any other purpose. 

Treatment. The object to be attained in curing this 
disease is the destruction of the acari, which is necessarily 
the same in all animals; but in sheep the material used 
must be in a fluid form, so as to penetrate the wool. 

The following is both an excellent cure and preventative 
of scab in sheep: R. Acid Arseniosi, lbij ; Sulph. Ferri, 
lb. ccv ; Aquai, cong. lxv. Translation. — Powdered arseni- 
ous acid, two pounds; sulphate of iron, two hundred and 
five pounds ; water, sixty -five gallons; mix. Boil until 
the fluid is reduced to one-third, and then add as much 
water as has been lost by evaporation. This preparation 
is the celebrated "Bain de Tessier," so highly prized in 
France. The following will answer the same purpose, 
which will not stain the wool, as it contains no sulphate 
of iron, and will, no doubt, be preferred by many to the 
preceding one on that account : Arsenious acid, two pounds ; 
sulphate of zinc, ten pounds; water, sixty gallons; mix. 



PSORA. 329 

Prepare as the foregoing one. Each of these valuable 
sheep-dipping mixtures is sufficient to cure and dip one 
hundred sheep. 

The way sheep-dipping mixtures are sometimes used is 
far wrong, as was the case in the celebrated sheep-poisoning 
case at Burton, England, where the animals were driven, 
immediately after their bath, containing twenty ounces of 
arsenic, twenty ounces of soda-ash, and two ounces of 
sulphur, to their pasture, with their wool saturated with it, 
and consequently dripping from the wool on the grass that 
the sheep were just eating. 

The improved plan in dipping sheep is : First. The 
solution or the mixture is to be put in a tub, or other 
vessel, sufficiently large to allow the sheep (except the 
head) to be immersed in it, without the mixture running 
over the sides of the tub or vessel. Second. When the 
sheep is taken out, it must be placed in another tub or 
vessel, and the liquid pressed from the wool, and returned 
again into the dipping vessel. Third. The sheep must 
be kept enclosed in a sheep-fold, or other sufficiently airy 
place, where there is no food of any kind that a sheep will 
eat, until the wool is perfectly dry. 

Several of the veterinary professors of the Edinburgh 
veterinary colleges, after the above sheep-poisoning case 
occurred, instituted a series of experiments to prove 
whether arsenical baths were dangerous, and if sheep could 
be poisoned by immersion therein. The following is the 
result of their experience. ("Edinburgh Veterinary Re- 
view" for April, 1859.) 

First. That the immersion of sheep, whether sound, or 
suffering from scab, with extensive eruptions or "foot-rot," 
with free exposure of the vascular structure of the feet, 
in arsenical solutions, varying in strength, is unattended 



330 DISEASES OF SHEEP. 

by prejudicial effects, and prove salutary to the diseased 
animals. 

Second. That the congregating of sheep after dipping, 
where food is not allowed them, is unattended with danger; 
and I can distinctly testify to the absence of all risk from 
sheep licking each other. 

Third. That all sheep having remained damp from 
twenty-four to thirty-six hours after being dipped, cuta- 
neous absorption of arsenical solution might have been 
going on rapidly during the prolonged period in which the 
sheep continued wet; but no unfavorable symptoms ensued, 
— indeed the reverse. 

Fourth. The absence of the slightest change in health, 
or of the manifestation of symptoms which usually ensue 
on the administration of arsenic to the lower animals, even 
in medicinal doses by the mouth, leads us to infer that if a 
minute quantity of arsenic, in solution, can penetrate the 
system of a sheep by absorption by the skin, it is quite 
insufficient to develop the physiological action of the 
compound. 

Fifth. A solution of arsenic is not more readily ab- 
sorbed from limited abraded surfaces than from the healthy 
skin, owing probably to the arsenic acting as an astringent 
on the sores, and rendering the latter as impenetrable, 
probably, as the uninjured skin. This remark does not 
apply to large wounds. 

Sixth. It appears impossible to poison sheep by bathing 
them in arsenical solutions, provided the liquor is not 
introduced directly or indirectly into the stomach by the 
mouth. By the direct means of introduction of the con- 
stituents of a "dripping mixture" in the stomach of a 
sheep, is meant making the sheep swallow the liquid whilst 
being bathed ; and by the indirect means is implied the 



nor. 331 

penetration of arsenical solution into the stomach by food 
poisoned by the liquid dropping from the bodies of the 
sheep, the wool of which has not been pressed, or from a 
number of sheep injudiciously congregated over food they 
subsequently eat. 

Seventh. Arsenical solutions, whether weaker than ordi- 
nary dipping mixtures, or much stronger, are likewise 
incapable of being absorbed by the skin of sheep or man. 

Eighth. Sheep will partake of grass and other food 
which has been smeared or soaked with an arsenical solu- 
tion, notwithstanding the presence of soft soap and soda. 

Arsenical baths and mixtures are not only used for 
the cure and prevention of scab, but are the most highly, 
and, I think, justly valued preservatives of the fleece of 
sheep, and are a protection from the propagation of many 
parasites. 

Rot— Cachexia Aquosa. — Chlorosis. The very name 
of this disease is a terror to many sheep farmers who have 
suffered and lost so much by it. It is so destructive 
amongst sheep,that it is estimated that in the rainy winters 
of 1829-30 two million sheep died or were destroyed by 
this disease alone. It again made its appearance in Great 
Britain during the very wet years 1852-53. The symp- 
toms by which this disease can be detected in its early 
stage are very latent; but if there are suspicions of this 
disease, it can readily be detected by the color of the 
mucous membranes, or the fauces of the mouth; the ap- 
pendages of the eye being of a pale yellow; the animal 
costive, and the urine of a high color, thus indicating 
disease of the liver. As the disease is more advanced 
there is little difficulty in coming to a true and proper 
diagnosis of the case, as all the muscular fibres assume a 
uniform yellow brown color, and the wool has a matted 



332 DISEASES OF SHEEP. 

and dry appearance, and subsequently the muscles waste, 
and digestion is impaired, and at length the animal dies in 
from two to four months. Where a flock of sheep do not 
thrive and acquire fat and flesh on good feed and pasture, 
something must be wrong, and the sooner it is found out 
the better, as they may have acquired the disease before 
they were bought. The better way would be to have one 
of the worst ones brought in and destroyed, and then have 
a thorough examination, which will set everything to rest, 
and point out the line of duty which is open to be pursued 
in the treatment and prevention of the disease, ere it be too 
late to do good. 

It is very frequent in wet seasons, in wet and und rained 
lands, and is characterized by an enlarged and softened 
condition of the liver, and accumulation of the common 
fluke (distomum hepaticum) in the biliary ducts and gall 
bladder. 

Post-mortem appearances show most clearly the nature 
and extent of the disease as before mentioned. There is 
found a large number of these flukes in the liver, and that 
organ very much enlarged, soft, and flabby; the bile and 
all the serous fluids are of a yellow color, and, on account 
of the debilitating nature of the disease, a large quantity 
of the exudative matter is found in the belly and chest. 
There is one appearance that will never deceive: the liver 
is not of that pale and, I would say, cooked appearance 
which is usually presented after ordinary "Hepatitis;" 
but in most cases is all covered with livid spots not unlike 
the mottled appearance of the lungs of cattle that have died 
of epizootic pleuro-pneumonin. In a word, the liver is the 
only true seat of this disease. 

Cause. The cause of this disease, until lately, was often 
a surmise and supposition. Then the question arose, why 



rot. 333 

it has been a precept with careful shepherds not to let the 
sheep graze on dewy grass, or wet and marshy land ? 
Why the dew and wet land was considered so dangerous 
none could tell, and least of all the bucolic guardian. 
Although unable to give a reason why, he could aver and 
prove that it was so. The rational conclusion is, that 
many creatures pass the early portion of their predatory 
existence in the bodies of one species of animal, and their 
maturity in another. Their eggs are deposited in the 
former, but are not developed until expelled and cast upon 
the earth or manure-heap to shift for themselves. 

They lie on the smoking dung-pile or such places, and 
far away from the sheep, in which they can find food and 
develop themselves. The rain washes them into the earth, 
or they are carried to the fields with the manure. The 
humidity serves to develop them ; they fix themselves 
upon the moist grass, and with it these tiny enotozoa are 
carried into the stomachs of the sheep. Once there, their 
work is soon accomplished. 

Treatment. The successful treatment of this disease 
embraces particularly that of prevention. As before men- 
tioned, it is chiefly caused by wet and damp pasture 
lands — hence the proposition for their restoration will be, 
First, their removal to a high and healthy pasture, giving 
them hay and nourishing food, such as a little bruised oil 
cake, or linseed meal, and placing covered troughs in the 
field containing rock, or common salt, which sheep are 
very fond of licking, and which moreover regulates their 
bowels, and gives them an appetite for food and water. 
Second, give each sheep epsom salts, two ounces ; oil of 
turpentine, one ounce; pulverized ginger, half an ounce. 
To be given in half a pint of molasses water, to be followed 
up with tonics, if they are found necessary. The following 



334 DISEASES OF SHEEP. 

will answer a good purpose: Sulphate of iron, in powder, 
ten grains; gentian, in powder, thirty grains; ginger, in 
powder, thirty grains. To be given in linseed-meal gruel 
once a day for a few days. It is the experience of almost 
every sheep farmer, and sometimes too dearly bought, 
that to place sheep on wet and marshy land, even for a few 
days, is certain to generate this disease, notwithstanding 
the animals may have been in perfect health prior to his 
placing them there. Before placing sheep on pasture 
where there is access to any bog or marsh, it will amply 
repay the time and trouble to fence it in ; or have sufficient 
sheep-drains opened through it six months before any sheep 
are put on it. 

Sheep-drains are wide, and not filled up with tiles or 
stones, but left open. The shepherd can find time to keep 
both the sheep in order, and the drains clean of rubbish, 
except in the lambing and clipping season. 

Sheep Laurel, Poisoning by. — Kalmia. A shrub, 
the leaves and young twigs of which sheep and lambs are 
very fond, and when eaten by them to a considerable quan- 
tity gives rise to a disease called hoven or impaction of the 
rumen, accompanied by a staggering gait, sleepiness, and 
inability to walk. 

Treatment. To be successful must be timely as well as 
energetic, with a view to arousing the power of the stomach, 
and for this purpose two drachm doses of the spirits of 
ammonia may be given in a tumbler full of cold water once 
in the hour, till three or four doses are given ; withholding 
the medicine when the animal recovers, though one dose 
only has been given. 

Small-pox. — Variola Ovina. Fortunately this disease 
has as yet been confined to Europe, and more especially 



SMALL-POX. 335 

the continental portion, where it may be said to be never 
absent. In France and Italy it occurs frequently, and 
causes much loss and destruction. England was visited 
with it in 1847, when it was communicated to a flock at 
Datchett, and another at Pinnar, by some Merinoes from 
Spain. In 1862 it again occurred, but this time very 
suddenly, and in a very severe form among the flocks of 
Wiltshire ; for which re-appearance neither infection nor 
traceable contagion could be assigned as the cause. The 
light shed upon it makes it appear to be an instance of 
the origination of a more malignant type of variola ovina. 
Such is, in fact, assigned to this disease in Africa, it being 
well established that certain injurious atmospheric influ- 
ences produce skin diseases and facilitate the appearance 
of pustular eruptions. From the nature of the disease in 
its being produced both by atmospheric causes and conta- 
gion, it soon assumes an epizootic form, and causes more 
destruction than any other malady affecting this useful 
animal. Out of a flock of 1720, ninety-two were attacked 
in a natural way, of which fifty per cent. died. Of eight 
hundred inoculated cases, only thirty-six per cent. died. 
The mortality from this disease is never less than twenty- 
five per cent., and not unfrequently whole flocks have 
been swept away, death taking place in the early stages 
of the eruption, and others in suppurative and ulcerative 
stages. 

Symptoms. These may be mapped out as follows : The 
animal is seized with a shivering fit, succeeded by stupidity, 
which remains till death or recovery takes place. On the 
second or third day pimples are seen on the inside of the 
thighs and arm-pits, accompanied with redness of the eyes, 
complete loss of appetite and other symptoms which are 
common to other diseases of the same animal. 



336 DISEASES OF SHEEP. 

Prevention. Two plans are resorted to for the purpose 
of preventing the spread of the. affection, which promise a 
certainty of success. The first and best plan is, isolation 
and destruction. This plan proved a great protection to 
the sheep fanners of Wiltshire, in 1862. In well known 
epizootic diseases, where individual cases occur and are 
pointed out and well recognized, as soon as the fever sets 
in, and before the eruptions appear, they should be slaugh- 
tered at once and buried. The loss of one or two sheep is 
nothing to the consequences of the spread of a disease of 
this kind. By doing so the disease has been known to 
be confined to a few cases in a large flock. 

Treatment. In treating this disease, resort has been had 
to a plant called sarracenia purpura, Indian cup, or pitcher 
plant, which is used for treating this disease in man by 
the Micmac tribe of Indians in British North America. 
(See Horse and Cattle Medicines in this book.) Take 
from one to two ounces of the root, (dried if to be had,) 
and slice it in thin pieces; place in an earthen pot; add 
a quart of cold water, and allow the liquid to simmer 
gently over a slow, steady fire from two to three hours, so 
as to lose one-fourth of the quantity. Give of this tea or 
decoction three wine-glassfuls at once, and the same quan- 
tity from four to six hours after, when a cure will generally 
be effected. Weaker and smaller doses are certain preven- 
tives of small-pox, whether in men or animals. The public 
are indebted to Dr. Norris, Physician to the Halifax (Nova 
Scotia) Dispensary, for the manner of preparing this highly 
important article. Sulphurous acid gas will be found 
useful in small-pox. For manner of using, see Horse and 
Cattle Medicines in this book. 



HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 



It was re- 
marked by one of 
South Carolina's 
learned sons, who 
has long and 
honorably filled 
the chair of The- 
rapeutics in the 
JeifersonMedical 
College of Phila- 
delphia, "Give 
|me mercur y, 
iodine, quinine 
and the lancet, 
and I will com- 
bat with disease." 
W i t hout alto- 
gether endorsing the views of the distinguished professor, 
either in the choice or numbers of medicines he thinks 
necessary, or sufficient to cure disease, I would say, give 
me aconite, iodine, iron, mineral acid, soda, creosote, and a 
few others, and I will not only combat, but successfully 
cure and overcome disease. 

Every article in use by myself in the treatment of dis- 
eases will be described under the name by which it is best 
22 337 




MEDICINE CHEST. 



338 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

known. No attempt will be made to describe adulterations 
in the drugs spoken of. Many useful plants containing 
high curative properties are to be found all over this 
country, which will be well worth special attention. 

Acids. — These are derived from the mineral, vegetable 
and animal kingdoms, and are of a sour taste — hence the 
name acid. Some acids are solid, others fluid, and all are 
easily dissolved in water. Acids are mostly poisonous, 
except when highly diluted, or mixed with water. 

Acetic Acid. — This acid is eight times stronger than 
ordinary vinegar. 

Use. Sometimes used in sprains, and for the destruction 
of the poison of insects, by adding one ounce of camphor to 
four ounces of the acid. 

Pyroligneous Acid. — This is gotten by the distilla- 
tion of wood, and sometimes sold in a diluted form as 
white vinegar. It is used with salt by horsemen for sore 
backs and shoulders. 

Muriatic Acid. — This is commonly called the spirit 
of salt. 

Use. A good tonic in debilitating diseases in horses and 
cattle, and can be advantageously employed in pleuro-pneu- 
monia in cattle, for it relieves the quick breathing, and 
keeps up the strength. 

Dose. Forty to sixty drops given largely diluted, or 
mixed with cold water, and repeated three to four times in 
the day. 

Externally, it is used for sores in the feet of horses, by 
pouring a few drops in the nail-hole or sore. Ten drops 
poured into the fistulous openings of poll-evil, or quittor in 
the foot, daily, sometimes cure the disease. 

Nitric Acid, or Aqua Fortis. — This, given properly, 



ACIDS. 



339 



and largely diluted, is an excellent tonic, and is used for 
the same purpose, and in the same doses as the preceding. 

Sulphuric Acid. — Possibly this acid is preferable to 
any other of the acids for internal use, in weakness and 
debility. It is given in from forty to sixty drop doses, 
also largely diluted with water. Horses and cattle will 
usually drink water, when acid is in it. In all kinds of 
fevers, sulphuric acid is an excellent medicine to give. In 
mixing it, the acid is to be added to the water, not the 
the water to the acid. 

Prussic Acid. — A highly dangerous poison. There 
are two forms of this acid kept in the drug stores. 
Scheels' contains five per cent., and that of colleges about 
two per cent. 

Use. Given in locked-jaw in the horse with considerable 
success. 





MINIMUM, OR DROP MEASURE. 



GRADUATED MEASURE. 



Dose. Half to one drachm once a day. If the horse be 
young, half a drachm will be enough. Two drops to the 
ounce of water is an excellent wash to the skin of all 
animals, in mange and inveterate itching. Great care, 
however, must be exercised in its use, whether internally 
or externally. It is sold under the name of hydrocianic 
acid. 
Aconite. — AconitumNapellus — Wolfsbane — Monkshood. 



340 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

Ail active poison, and one of the garden plants of parts of 
Europe. The tincture is that portion which is used iu 
diseases of horses and cattle. 

Tincture of Aconite Root. — One of the most pow- 
erful, certain and successful sedatives which can be used. 
It has done away with bleeding, blistering and physicking, 
which were formerly thought proper agents wherewith to 
combat and cure disease. It is not only sedative, but it is 
a nauseant, calmative, anodyne, stimulant, diaphoretic and 
antiphlogistic. It controls fever, and allays pain and in- 
flammation; and is the only medicine, excepting hellebore, 
which can excite the horse, the ox, or the elephant, to 
vomit. Although these animals cannot vomit, it is the one 
to cause them to make the effort. If, according to the 
founder of homoeopathy, mercury was a divine metal, no 
less surely may aconite be considered a divine vegetable ; 
for without it, or something as good, what can be so suc- 
cessful in curing lung fever, founder, inflammation of any 
part of the body, colic from eating green food, and fever 
accompanying cattle diseases of whatever kind ? Nothing 
controls the circulation and action of the heart so promptly 
as aconite. The nervous centres of the body are no less 
ready to obey its action. Hence, its value in allaying fever, 
irritation, excitement and pain, from whatever cause. 

How to use it. Aconite should never he carried too far, 
or prostration and weakness will follow. Never give more 
than eight doses, when twenty drops are the dose, nor 
more than six doses when twenty-five drops are the dose. 
Or, in other words, never, in any disease, give more than 
two drachms, or one hundred and twenty drops, whether 
the dose has been ten, twenty or twenty-five drops. In 
pleuro-pneumonia and other diseases, iron and the mineral 
acids should follow aconite. 



AMMONIA. 341 

Alcohol. — Spirits of wine entirely free from water, and 
is used for making tinctures of the various plants. It is 
the foundation of many lotions and liniments. Alcohol 
may be given to horses having a chill, in half pint doses, 
mixed with a little warm water, not too hot. 

Aloes. — This is the expressed juice of several plants 
of same name. Aloes are of several varieties : Barbadoes, 
Socotorine, Cape, and Hepatic — all of which differ in 
color, and some of them in strength. Barbadoes and the 
Socotorine are the varieties kept in the drug stores. 

Use. Aloes are used as a purgative, or cathartic, for 
horses only. Cattle do not respond to aloes, nor is it a 
proper internal medicine for those animals. 

Dose. From six to eight drachms, made into a bolus, or 
ball, with two drachms of powdered ginger, and molasses, 
to cause them to stick together. 

Tincture of aloes is an excellent application to a healthy 
sore. In the form of a compound tincture, which is com- 
posed of aloes and myrrh, it is preferred, by some persons, 
to the simple tincture. 

Alum. — A compound salt, containing sulphuric acid, 
potash, and alumina. 

Use. It is applied to sores, to arrest bleeding, and in the 
form of burnt alum is used to touch indolent sores, which 
are not disposed to heal quickly. 

Ammonia. — Liquid ammonia is commonly called spir- 
its of hartshorn. 

Use. A diffusible stimulant, and is given in cases of 
flatulent colic. Formerly it was in much repute among 
farriers, mixed with oil, as a liniment, but it is not now 
considered of much value, and is apt to blemish. 



342 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

Dose. Two drachms to half an ounce, as an anti-spas- 
modic, in flatulent colic. 

Carbonate op Ammonia. — A highly valuable medi- 
cine, when given in weakness, debility, and prostration 
from influenza, lung fever, bronchitis, etc. 

Dose. From two drachms, to half an ounce, which may 
be repeated three times in the day, and should be given, 
mixed in cold gruel, so that the latent, or hidden heat, will 
not be developed, as it would be, if given in anything 
warm, thereby scalding the throat while drenching. 

Muriate of Ammonia. — this possesses the same 
properties as the above, but is not so strong. 

Acetate of Ammonia. — Is -made extemporaneously, 
by dissolving the carbonate in strong acetic acid, till 
effervescence ceases; then, adding water to it, till it is of 
the strength of ordinary vinegar. 

Use. An excellent form of ammonia when given in 
weakness and debility. Indeed, ammonia, and its several 
preparations, need only to be used, to convince of their 
utility, in supporting the vital powers, and thereby curing 
disease. 

Anaesthetics. — Medicines which induce insensibility. 

Aniseed. — A warm carminative, and used in conjunc- 
tion with fenugreek, and cardamoms, in weed, and fevers 
in milch cows, and for indigestion, and loss of appetite in 
horses. 

Dose. For horses and cows, one to two ounces, given 
three times in the day. 

Anodynes. — These are medicines which allay pain. 
(See Aconite, Opium, Morphia, Chloroform, and Ether.) 

Antimony. — A metal. Many preparations of anti- 
mony are kept in the drug stores. 



ANTIMONY. 



343 




BALANCE WEIGHING ONE GRAIN TO A FEW OUNCES. 



Tartarized Antimony. — This is commonly called 
Tartar Emetie, and was formerly relied upon in the 
treatment of lung, or chest diseases in horses, and cattle; 
but, to the great surprise of the knowing ones, recent 
experiments have shown that tartar emetic has no sedative 
effect whatever upon horses, cattle, sheep, or other herbivo- 
rous animals. Pounds of tartar emetic have been given 
to horses, cattle, and sheep, without any effect, excepting 
increasing the appetite a little, and having no effect upon 
either the respiration, or circulation, whatever. Therefore, 
tartar emetic we will leave to the dogs and to man, 

Tartar emetic ointment is sometimes recommended, to 
be applied to the region of the kidneys, where the Spanish 
fly dare not be used. 

Ter-Sulphuret of Antimony, or Black Antimony. 
— This is a favorite, with many horsemen, for making a 
horse shine. 



344 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

Ter-Chloride of Antimony. — Tin's is a useful medi- 
cine for diseases of the feet of horses, cattle, and sheep ; it 
owes its properties to hydrochloric acid. It is commonly 
called, by old farriers, butyreof antimony. In foul claw, 
in cattle, and sores in the feet of horses, a piece of cotton 
should be moistened with it, and laid upon the sore. 

Antiseptics. — Medicines which arrest decay, and 
putrefaction. 

Antispasmodics. — Medicines capable of relieving 
spasms, as in colic. 

Areca Nut. — An effective cure for tape-worm in the 
dog. 

Dose. — About two grains of the nut, to every pound of 
the animal's weight, and given in the form of a pill, or 
suspended in milk. 

Arnica Montana. — Leopard's bane. 

Tincture of Arnica. — A valuable remedy for 
sprains and bruises. A lotion is made as follows: Tinc- 
ture of arnica, one ounce; water two ounces. Cloths, 
kept wet with it, should be laid on the part which is sore. 

Arsenic. — A well known poison. 

Use. A splendid tonic, improving health, condition 
and wind of the horse. 

Dose. When given once a day, five grains will be a 
safe dose, for an ordinary -sized horse. If given twice a 
day, two and a half grains will be enough. 

Arsenic should be given mixed in feed, in large bulk, 
such as cut feed, so as to protect the stomach as much as 
possible, whilst at the same time reaping its advantages. 
These doses should bo continued at least for two weeks, 
stopping at that time for one week, and commencing again 



ASTRINGENTS. 345 

as before. This will insure safety, with the benefits of 
the arsenic, and an improved condition in both wind and 
body. In Switzerland, and other parts of the world, 
arsenic is relied upon for the cure of heaves in the horse. 

Fowler's Solution of Arsenic. — Made as ordered 
by the colleges, contains four grains of arsenic to the 
ounce of the solution, or fluid. 

Asafoetida. — This is a gum-resin, having a smell like 
onions. Asai'oetida is a stimulant and vermifuge, and is 
given to horses for loss of appetite, and to produce a fine 
silken coat upon them. It is given to dogs, to expel 
worms. Dose, for the horse and the cow, two drachms, 
and for dogs, ten to twenty grains. 

Tincture. Where the stimulant effect is wanted, the 
tincture is a good form, and is given in about the same 
doses as the gum, for all animals. 

Asarabacca. — This is used in horses where matter is 
lodged in the nares of the nose, and it is desirable that 
it should be brought down; and also in sheep and calves, 
with faliria bronchi, or worms in the air passages. For 
horses, blow a drachm up each nostril, out of a cone of 
paper, taking care that the person does not inhale it 
himself. For a flock of sheep, or a number of calves, 
confine them in a close shed, with sufficient air, and throw 
a considerable quantity among them, so the animals will 
inhale it. Sneezing and snorting take place, followed by 
mucus, and small worms, from the nose. This action is 
called errhine. 

Astringents. — Medicines which are capable of drying 
up discharges, whether from the bowels, or from a sore. 
The principal medicines of this class are opium, tannin, 
oak-bark and chalk. 



346 HOESE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

Atropine. — The active principle of Belladonna. 

Belladonna. — Atropia Bella donna. 

Belladonna is used in veterinary practice for the same 
purposes as opium, but is to be preferred to opium on 
account of its having no binding effect on the bowels. 
The extract is the preparation used, and is prescribed in 
all animals, for colic, rheumatism, coughs, sore throat, 
bronchitis, influenza and locked-jaw. Doses, half a drachm 
to forty or fifty grains, dissolved in half an ounce of the 
sweet spirits of nitre, and repeated three times a day, in 
the diseases above mentioned. In diseases of the eye, it is 
considered valuable, as it has the power of contracting the 
iris of the eye, thus causing enlargement of the pupil, and 
breaking up adhesions between the iris and the lens. It 
also facilitates operations on the eye. 

Benzoin. — A gum-resin, the tincture of which is 
known as the old Friar's Balsam, and is an excellent 
application for sores, and unhealthy ulcers. 

Benzole. — This is a watery carbon, and is obtained 
from coal tar. It is used to destroy lice, and other insects 
in the skin of all our domestic animals. 

Bismuth, Subnitrate of. 

Use. For dogs when affected with vomiting and purging. 
Dose. Five to fifteen grains, given on sugar; may be 
repeated. 

Bole Armenia. — Formerly in great repute among old 
horse doctors, for many diseases of all the animals, and it 
entered into almost every mixture. It is useless. 

Borax. — Or Biborate of Soda. A good application 
for ringworm, for which purpose dissolve half an ounce of 
borax in eight ounces of water. 



CALCIUM, OR QUICKLIME. 347 

Bromide of Potassium. 

Use. For arresting the growth of fibrous tumors so 
often met with in all animals. 

Doses. For horses and cattle, from one to three drachms? 
and for dogs, five to ten grains, repeated three times in 
the day, for a considerable period. 

Buckthorn. — A syrup is made of the berries, and 
kept in the drug stores, and is recommended as a mild 
purgative in dogs having distemper. 

Calamine. — An impure carbonate of zinc. Oxide of 
zinc should be used or substituted for it. Used in the 
healing of wounds, both in powder and ointment. 

Calcium, or Quicklime. 

Use. Lime is used in indigestion and acidity in all 
animals ; in tympanitis in the horse, in hoven in cattle, and 
in the form of lime-water. Mixed with linseed oil in 
equal quantities, it makes the celebrated Carron oil, so 
called from its constant use among the men employed in 
the Carron Iron Works, when any of them get burnt. 
Lime-water and calomel make the yellow-wash, and corro- 
sive sublimate, and lime-water, make the black-wash, so 
highly recommended in unhealthy, and in ill-conditioned 
ulcers and sores. It is used as a disinfectant in stables 
and barns. 

Dose. Quicklime is given to horses and cattle, in from 
one to two drachms. Lime-water is given in five ounce 
doses to horses and cattle. For calves with diarrhoea, 
two ounces of lime-water, a drachm of powdered gentian 
root, and from three to five drops of the tincture of 
aconite root, given three times a day, is an excellent 
remedy. 



348 



XQRSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 



Calomel. — Chloride of Mercury. 

Calomel should be rarely used in liorse and cattle prac- 
tice, from the fact that animals are not so subject to 
scrofulous diseases, and liver complaints, as man is, and as 
these are the diseases chiefly calling for calomel, we can in 
veterinary practice do without it, so far as internal use is 
concerned. For external application, in the form of the 
black and yellow-wash, it is valuable. Calomel sprinkled 
on unhealthy ulcers and sores is valuable, quickly chang- 
ing their appearance. Calomel is sometimes used in thrush 
of the foot of the horse, inserted into the cleft of the frog. 
In cattle with foul claw, and in sheep with sore feet, it can 
be used to great advantage. A dog can take as much 
aloes as will kill a man, but a man can take as much 
calomel as will kill several dogs. 





WEDGEWOOD MORTAR. 



WEDGEWOOD MORTAR. 



Camphor. — Use. Camphor is a slight stimulant, fol- 
lowed by calmative effect. Hence, it is recommended in 
cases of irritation, and nervous excitement, and enters into 
all mixtures used in cases of chronic cough. Three to five 
grains of camphor, and extract of belladonna five grains, 
rubbed down in a little whisky or alcohol, and mixed in 
three ounces of water, is an excellent remedy in allaying 
irritation in dogs having distemper. An excellent rubi- 
facient can be made with camphor, one ounce ; acetic acid, 



CAEBOLIC ACID. 349 

Kb. 8, four ounces. To allay irritation in a sore, camphor 
and sweet oil is a good application. 

Doses. Camphor is given to horses and cattle, in from 
two to four drachms, repeating the dose three or four times 
a day. 

Cantharides. — (See Spanish Fly.) 
Capsicum. — (See Pepper.) 

Carbolic Acid. — This is the product of coal tar, and 
was formerly known to the scientific world as phenile or 
plienic acid, but is now generally known as carbolic acid. 
Its smell resembles that of creosote, which is carbolic acid 
and a fixed oil, and is very offensive to most persons. Its 
form is that of an acid solution, though sometimes sold in 
crystals. Its great importance is due to its property of 
coagulating the albumen of the animal tissue, and hence 
its value in sores, wounds, and ulcers. It may be applied 
with safety to all parts of the body or legs, and is invalua- 
ble for destroying lice, wood ticks, and all forms of parasite 
life, and by merely washing or moistening those parts of 
the legs and bodies of horses, cattle, and sheep, and chosen 
by the bot, horse or other flies to deposit their eggs, their 
hatching or even deposit may be prevented. 

As a disinfectant in stables and buildings affected with 
fevers and all kinds of distempers, it was found extremely 
serviceable in England, in checking the ravages of the 
rinderpest by washing the floors and stalls; and adding a 
tablespoonful of the solution of the acid to a bucketful of 
water, in whitewashing the walls and ceilings. 

External Use. For sores and wounds, when unhealthy, 
a good application may be made by adding one drachm 
of the acid to one pint of water. This will destroy all 



350 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

putrefaction, and induce the wound to take on a healthy 
action. 

Cardamoms. — The seeds of a plant. 

Use. Given to milch cows in case of loss of appetite, and 
fevers. Generally it is united with fenugreek, ginger, or 
gentian root, mixed in warm ale, or molasses water. This 
mixture will cure ephemeral or fevers of a day's duration, 
when other medicines have failed. 

Dose. One to two ounces. 

Caraway. — The seeds of a garden plant, and used for 
the same purposes as the preceding. 

Carbonate of Lime. — A chalk which is sold in the 
drug stores under the name of oreta jpreparata, or prepared 
chalk. 

Doses. For horses and cattle, one to two ounces is the 
dose. For calves, two to three drachms, given in wheat- 
flour gruel, with a drachm of ginger, or caraway seed, for 
curing diarrhoea. 

Cascarilla. — The bark of a tree. 

Use. A bitter tonic, and resembles in some particulars 
that of quinine. 

Doses. For horses and cattle, one to two ounces, mixed 
in gruel. 

Castor-Oil. — The expressed oil of the seeds of the 

i? ic ii i us Co mm un is . 

Use. However useful castor-oil may be as a purgative 
in the human family, it is certainly a dangerous poison 
when given in sufficient quantities to induce purging, in 
either the horse, cow or sheep. It produces irritation, and 
inflammation of the coats of the bowels, without relief from 
purging. 



CHAECOAL. 351 

For the dog, castor oil may be a proper and useful 
purgative ; and for the pig, also. Aloes, and linseed oil, 
is the purgative for the horse ; epsom, or glauber salts, 
for the ox, and the sheep. Whatever suits man, as a purge, 
will answer for the dog and pig. 

Cassia. — False Cinnamon. Much cheaper than cin- 
namon, and may be given to horses and cattle in powder, 
mixed in gruel, for loss of appetite. 

Dose. One to two ounces, for horses, or cattle. 

Catechu. — An extract from a species of acacia. 

Use. An astringent, binding the bowels in diarrhoea, 
and is used in combination with chalk and opium. 

Dose. For horses and cattle, two to five drachms. For 
sheep and swine, one to three drachms. For the dog, ten 
to twenty grains. 

For superpurgation in horses, and cows, my favorite 
combination is as follows: Catechu, two to five drachms; 
prepared chalk, one to two ounces; powdered opium, ten 
to thirty grains ; mix, and drench with wheat flour gruel. 

Chalk. — (See Carbonate of Lime.) 

Chamomile. — The flowers of anthemis noblis. 

Use. A very mild tonic, possibly too much so for the 
horse or cow. We have better ones, although, perhaps, 
not so well known. 

Charcoal. — Occasionally given to cows, in chronic 
diarrhoea. 

Dose. Half an ounce to one ounce, given suspended in 
gruel, of any kind. Externally, charcoal is very valuable, 
when applied to badly smelling wounds, and ulcers. It 
immediately corrects the fcetor, and rapidly disposes them 



352 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

to heal. Charcoal and brewers' yeast are good cleansers 
of putrid sores, and ulcers, and are worthy of more exten- 
sive use. 

Chenopo dium Anthelminticum. — Wormseed. An 
excellent remedy for worms in dogs. Drop from two to 
five drops of the oil in a little soup, or give from ten to 
twenty grains of the bruised seed, for four successive 
nights, and then follow with a dose of castor-oil. 

Chlorine Gas. — Chlorine gas is prepared by pouring 
hydrochloric acid on the black oxide of manganese, also 
by heating sulphuric acid with common salt and the man- 
ganese. 

Use. This gas is a disinfectant, and fur this purpose 
it is made and used as follows : Take an ounce or so 
(depending upon the size of the place to be disinfected) 
of black oxide of manganese, and hydrochloric acid of 
sufficient quantity, carry them to the place where they are 
to be used, pour the one into the other, and close the doors, 
having first removed all the animals out of the place. A 
spirit lamp, placed uder the bottom of the vessel holding 
the materials, will insure a greater volume of gas. (See 
Disinfectants.) 

Chlorine, when sufficiently and properly used, is con- 
sidered to be of great advantage in arresting the ravages 
of glanders, farcy, and other distempers in the horse, of 
pleuro-pneumonia and contagious typhus in cattle, and 
small-pox in sheep. It is to be hoped that farmers gen- 
erally will provide themselves with proper apparatus for 
this purpose. It will not cost above three dollars, and 
consists of a small lamp with a stand so formed that a 
small glass bottle, commonly called a Florence flask, can 
sit right above the blaze of the lamp, while from its wide 



CHLOEOFOEM. 353 

and open mouth issues the disease-healing, and health- 
restoring gas. 

Chloric Ether. — Chloroform, dissolved in spirits of 
wine. 

Chloride of Potassium. — Is similar to chloride of 
soda, or common salt. 

Chloride of Lime. 

Use. As a disinfectant, from its antiseptic, and deo- 
dorizing effects, and is an excellent stimulant to unhealthy 
ulcers. Chloride of lime has been highly recommended in 
tympanitis in the horse, and hoven in cattle, arising from 
eating wet clover. 

Dose. From two to four drachms, given mixed with 
cold water. 

As a disinfectant it may be sprinkled on the stable or 
barn floor every morning; but a good way would be to 
suspend it in a box having many small holes in it and 
hung from the roof of the house. If the house be large, 
two or more boxes may be used. 

Chloroform. — Terchloride of Formyle. 

Use. Chloroform is an excellent stimulant, when given 
to horses having a chill, or shivering fit, from congestion, 
or from cold, and is equal to turpentine, for the cure of 
colic. An excellent liniment is made, by adding one ounce 
of chloroform to two of olive oil. 

Dose. Chloroform is given to the horse and cow, in 
doses from one to two drachms, mixed in weak whisky, 
and repeated every two or three hours, or till the colic is 
relieved. 

Inhalation. The inhalation of chloroform, by either 
horse, or ox, is attended with risk, provided the animal be 
not secured, or tied, so that it cannot get loose ; because 
23. 



354 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

some horses and cattle become completely wild, when the 
effects of the inhalation commence to act upon the brain. 
On the other hand, some horses will quietiy stand up, 
others as quietly will lie down under it. 

Two to four ounces are sufficient to produce anasthsesia, 
or loss of sensibility. The usual way of giving chloroform 
by inhalation is by pouring about two ounces of chloroform 
on a soft and moist sponge, whilst the animal is tied down, 
and holding the sponge to one nostril only, covering the 
nose loosely, with a large towel, to save the fumes of the 
chloroform, using great care not to exclude the admission 
of pure air with the fumes of the chloroform. 

In all operations lasting any length of time, whether in 
the horse or the cow, humanity and fine feeling demand 
the outlay for a little chloroform. It is not necessary to 
completely destroy all feeling — just sufficient to blunt the 
sensibility of the nerve centres. 

CholagOgueS. — Medicines which increase the flow of 
bile. 

Examples: Calomel, podophyllin,irridin,leptandrin, etc. 

Cinchona. — Peruvian, or Jesuit Bark. There are sev- 
eral barks of cinchona, used in medicine, and from which 
the sulphate of quinine is made. Cinchona, or its barks, 
are not used in horse and cattle diseases. 

Quinine is the only preparation used; but its high price 
is against its general use, in veterinary practice. Among 
valuable horses, it is frequently used to hasten recovery 
from influenza, lung fever, etc. 

Dose. Twenty to forty grains, repeated from three to 
four times a day. 

Quinine is apt to be adulterated with arsenic, as proved 
to be the case with many samples used during the late war. 



COLLODION. 355 

Cochineal. — An insect used as a dye for coloring 
tinctures and other medicines for the purpose of deception. 
Druggists color water with it, for filling the show bottles 
usually found in their store windows. 

Cod Liver Oil. — In all animals, cod liver oil increases 
fat and flesh. In diseases affecting digestion and assimi- 
lation cod liver oil can be of no use. It materially 
relieves broken wind or heaves in horses. For hastening, 
or forcing animals intended for show, cod liver oil is just 
what is wanted, as it not only hastens the fattening process, 
but increases the quality and appearance of the meat. 

Dose. For swine, two ounces daily. For small pigs, 
one ounce. 

Colchicum. — Meadow Saffron. The seeds and root are 
the parts usually employed in medicine, sometimes in 
powder; but the best is in the form of tincture. 

Use. Given in all rheumatic affections of the joints, and 
in lumbago, and also in diseases of the eye of the horse, 
depending on rheumatism of that organ. 

Dose. Of the crom or seeds in powder for horses and 
cattle, the dose is from one to two drachms, given in the 
animal's feed twice in the day, for a week or two. The 
wine of colchicum will answer for the dog, in from five to 
fifteen drop doses, twice a day in a little water. 

Collodion. — This is a solution of gun-cotton. 

Use. Collodion is used for dressing wounds and cuts, 
instead of sticking plaster, and is applied in the following 
manner : Clip the hair from the edges of the wound, take 
a camel's hair pencil, or a soft brush, and paint the surface 
and edges of the wound well, and in a few minutes, the 
ether, which holds the gun-cotton in solution, evaporates, 
leaving over the sore a complete covering, resembling the 



356 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICIlfHi. 

gold-beater's skin, thus completely shielding the sore from 
the action of the air. Hence, its value. 

Copper, Sulphate Of. — Blue Vitriol. This is one of 
the most useful articles that can be used in horse and cattle 
diseases, both internally and externally. Internally used, 
sulphate of copper is a powerful tonic and builder up of 
the system, and is recommended in all diseases character- 
ized by a low state of the system. Farcy, glanders, 
purpura, etc., in the horse, have in several cases yielded 
to its effects. Sulphate of copper should never be given 
alone, but should be combined with gentian or ginger. 
After the fever has passed off in cases of pleuro-pneu- 
monia, the sulphate of copper is an excellent medicine to 
support the vital powers, and prevent effusions in the 
chest, which is the cause of death, in most cases, from this 
disease. 

Dose. In horses and cattle, one to three drachms are the 
proper doses, given twice in the day. 

The external use of the sulphate of copper is often called 
for as a caustic in wounds and sores growing proud flesh, 
which are readily controlled by it, simply by touching 
the parts with a piece of the crystal in powder, or in 
solution. . 

For diseases of the eye, I think it has no superior. For 
this purpose, use three grains of the powdered sulphate to 
an ounce of rain water, and apply with a soft feather, or 
what is better, a camel's hair pencil. 

For wounds which have no proud flesh in them, eight 
to ten grains to the ounce of water is a good and cheap 
application. 

Copper, Acetate of. — This is used only for sores in 
the form of an ointment. Take of the acetate or verdigris 



DIGITALIS. 357 

one drachm ; and add to it an ounce of the simple oint- 
ment. I have known sores to heal from its use, which 
have bid defiance to almost every other application. 

Coriander. — The Seeds. This is a useful article, and 
may be considered an excellent medicine for young calves 
having weak stomachs. The bruised seeds should be 
given, in two drachm doses, in the milk which is given to 
the calf. 

Creosote. — This is a peculiar smelling fluid derived 
from tar. Creosote has had the credit of curing glanders 
in man, and is a good remedy in pleuro-pneumonia in 
cattle, but we have better ones, and not so costly. Cases 
of arcy and glanders in the horse are greatly benefited by 
its use. 

Dose. For horses and cattle, use from one to one and 
a half drachms, made into a mass, with flour and molas- 
ses, and the whole crumbled down into some gruel. 
Make a. drench, to be poured down the throat. 

As an external remedy, it is of great advantage in mange, 
sores, ulcers, caries of the bones, canker, thrush in the 
horse's feet, and the foot-rot so troublesome in sheep. 
Indeed, the more the virtues of creosote are known to 
farmers, raisers and breeders of stock, the more will it be 
valued and the greater will be the advantages derived 
from it. (See Prescriptions.) 

Croton Oil. — A dangerous medicine when improperly 
used, but a useful one nevertheless, when hasty action of 
the bowels is wanted, as in milk fever in cows. 

Dose. For the cow ten to fifteen drops, given along 
with epsom or glauber salts. 

Digitalis. — Digitalis Purpura. The action of this 
powerful medicine has been much sought for as a sedative 



358 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

in lung diseases ; but since we have become acquainted 
with the superior qualities of aconite, digitalis is not now 
worth keeping in the veterinary Materia Medica. More- 
over, digitalis is a dangerous medicine, from the fact that 
it accumulates in the system, for a time, and all at once 
its effect is manifested in the weak action of the heart, so 
that in many cases, the heart ceases to beat altogether. 

Doses. For horses and cattle, twenty grains of the 
powdered leaves. 

Disinfectants. — 1 have, in two portions of this book, 
referred to the importance of a better acquaintance on the 
part of farmers and stock raisers with this subject. 

Volatile Disinfectants may be divided as follows : 

1 . Chlorine. 

2. Nit?'ous acid fumes. 

3. Sulphurous acid. 

These diffuse themselves through the air of stables and 
barns, and neutralize the poisonous gases which are given 
off from the excrement of animals, whether in health or 
disease. 

Fixed Disinfectants. — These are such as can be 
mixed with the excreta and decaying matter, without 
destroying them for manure. 

1. Perchloride of iron. 

2. Permanganate of potash. 

3. Gypsum — Sulphate of lime. This is not a great one, 
but it is useful. 

4. Charcoal. This, in fine powder, should be thrown 
into damp stables and barn-yards, as it will not only re- 
move unpleasant smells, but will make good manure. 
Refuse tan bark, and other vegetable substances, made 
in to' charcoal, is cheap, and of great utility as a disinfec- 
tant, and adds to the quantity and value of the manure. 



ELM BARK. 359 

Fixed, but Noxious Disinfectants. — These are dis- 
infectants which, when mixed with manure, render it 
valueless as such. 

1. Chloride of Zinc. (Burnet's Disinfectant Fluid.) 

2. Nitrate of Lead. (Ledoyer's Disinfectant.) 

3. Sulphate of Copper, and Zinc Solution. (Larnaudes.) 
Chlorinated Soda Solution may be mixed with manure, 

without destroying its qualities as such. 

Chloride of Lime. Solid, or in powder, does not destroy 
the manuring qualities of vegetal, and other materials 
usually converted into manures. 

Diuretics. — Medicines which, when given to animals, 
increase the flow of urine. They are used in the cases of 
swellings and dropsies of the body and legs of horses. 

Elecampane. — Inula Helenium. The root of this plant 
is highly thought of, and much used, by horsemen, in 
coughs and colds. Some make a tea of it, or decoction, 
and give it to the horse to drink. It is certainly a warm 
and grateful aromatic, and a good expectorant. The 
plant should be gathered when the seed is ripening. 

Elm Bark. — Slippery. This bark, when scalded with 
hot water, makes a useful poultice for irritable wounds, 
ulcers, and sores. A decoction of the bark will answer 
every purpose for which flaxseed, or linseed is used, or 
recommended, as in diseases of the kidneys, and bladder, 
produced by the use of Spanish fly, and from over-dosing 
with rosin and other diuretics. In diarrhoea, in all ani- 
mals, slippery elm tea, or decoction, will serve a good 
purpose, by sheathing the covering of the bowels, which 
is so apt to become irritated and inflamed in violent su- 
perpurgation. 



360 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

Emetics. — Medicines which produce vomiting. Horses, 
cattle, and sheep cannot vomit, whilst the stomach remains 
entire. In cases of rupture of that viscus, however, vom- 
iting is occasionally seen. Emetics are useful in diseases 
of the dog and swine. Tartar emetic, or sulphate of zinc, 
given in from two to five grain doses, will cause dogs and 
swine to vomit. 

Epsom Salts. — Sulphate of Magnesia. This is a 
valuable medicine, in diseases of cattle and sheep. No 
other purgative should ever be thought of, or given to either 
cattle or sheep. Even supposing other purgatives to be 
as good, none, certainly, can be so cheap, as epsom and 
glauber salts, or the sulphate of soda. For all purgative 
purposes, the one is as good as the other. Salts should be 
largely diluted with water; for the quantity of fluid given 
with them facilitates their operation. In domestic prac- 
tice, half an ounce of salts, in one tumbler full of water, 
will operate as strongly as one ounce, in half the quantity 
of water. 

Doses. For ordinary-sized cows, one to two pounds is 
the dose, mixed with four quarts of cold water ; one ounce 
of ginger in powder, and the whole sweetened with molas- 
ses, or coarse sugar. For average-sized calves, two to 
four ounces ; for sheep, four to six ounces. A few drops 
of commercial sulphuric acid — say twenty to sixty drops, 
will greatly remove the nauseous taste. 

Ergot. — Diseased Rye. This is a curious, is well as a 
valuable medicine. 

Use. In the calving, lambing, and foaling season, it is 
sometimes of great service, but should be carefully handled ; 
as, for instances, if given to any animal about to deliver her 
young, and when the mouth of the womb containing the 



EUPHOHBIUM. 361 

young is not sufficiently opened, the administration of 
this remedy would be attended with extreme danger, as 
the womb, by the powerful contraction set up, caused by 
the ergot, to expel its contents, would likely be ruptured, 
or torn, followed by the death of the animal. When the 
animal seems to have exhausted its strength, and the 
passage is open, and the young is coming in a natural way, 
then only should the ergot be given. If there should be a 
malformation in the young, or in the pelvis of the mother, 
it would be equally unwise to give ergot. 

Doses. For a mare, or cow, half to one ounce of the 
powder is the dose. For sheep, swine, and large-sized 
bitches, one drachm is the dose. Small bitches, ten to 
thirty grains. 

Essential Oils. — Volatile Oils. — (See Oils.) 

Ether. — Sulphuric Ether. This is a valuable article of 
the veterinary materia medica, and is used in diseases of 
all the animals. 

Use. It is used as a stimulant, and is given in weak- 
ness, fevers, and in colic, as an antispasmodic. Ether is 
scarcely strong enough to produce anesthesia in horses and 
cattle. 

Dose. For horses and cattle, one to two ounces is the 
dose as a stimulant, and antispasmodic. Ether should be 
given in cold water, to prevent its volatilization on its 
exposure to the air. Twice its own volume of alcohol 
added to it makes the spirit of sulphuric ether. 

Euphrobium. — A resinous juice, expressed from a 
cactus-like vegetable which grows in Morocco. 

Use. This is only used for external purposes, and is 
among the very few articles in veterinary medicines capable 
of blistering the thick skin of the ox. 



362 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

Expectorants. — This is a class of useful medicines, 
which cause a separation of the mucus from the throat, and 
air passages, thereby relieving cough and other symptoms 
usually attendant upon throat diseases. 

Febrifuges. — Medicines capable of relieving fever. 

Fenugreek. — The seed of this annual plant, found 
growing in the south of Europe, is a useful cattle medicine, 
given in one ounce doses, for loss of appetite, ephemeral 
fevers, etc. It is usually, however, combined with ginger, 
gentian, and other medicines of that class. 

Fern. — The 3Iale—AspkUum Felix Mas. 

Use. Given to animals affected with worms. A good 
remedy. 

Doses. For the horse, one pound of the root in powder 
is the dose. For sheep, three to five ounces. For the dog, 
with tape worm, it is invaluable, destroying the worm in 
two hours. A purgative should be given next day. 

Friar's Balsam. — This is the compound tincture of 
benzoin, and is an excellent article when applied to sores 
and wounds, as the fluid soon evaporates, and leaves a 
resinous covering over the wound, thus shielding it from 
the action of the air. (See Benzoin.) 

Galbanum. — A dried juice, having medicinal properties 
similar to asafoetida. 

Galls. — Nut Galls. These are rough excrescences on 
oak trees resulting from holes being made in the bark by 
an insect. 

Use. A powerful astringent, binding the bowels of all 
animals affected with dysentery and diarrhoea. Also a 
good application to the greasy heels of horses. 

Doses. For horses and cattle, powdered galls are given 



GINGER. 363 

in from four to six drachms. For sheep and swine, thirty 
to sixty grains. When externally applied the powdered 
nut may be sprinkled on the sore. 
Gallic Acid.— (See Tannin.) 

Gamboge. — This is a gum resin from a tree growing in 
the Island of Ceylon. 

Use. A useful purgative for cattle. (See Epsom Salts.) 
Doses. For cattle, six to eight drachms is the dose. 
For sheep, thirty grains, given in solution; should be 
given with other medicines of the same class. 

Gentian Root. — Gentiana Lutea. This is an invalua- 
able medicine in the treatment of diseases of horses and 
cattle, where the appetite is to be restored and kept up. 
In debility, weakness, swellings of the legs and body, and 
where the stomach is out of order, as is the case so often in 
fevers, and as a sequel to debilitating diseases, gentian, 
combined with iron, is an excellent tonic, and cheap. 
Gentian, combined with ammonia and pimenta berries, 
will make a horse eat almost whether he will or not. 

Doses. For horses and cattle, half to one ounce is the 
dose, repeating it three times in the day. For sheep, one 
drachm. For dogs, five to ten grains. For horses and 
cattle, it is best given mixed in gruel, and in a drench out 
of a strong-necked bottle. Gentian root should enter into 
all condition powders. 

The colleges order a tincture to be made, but the pow- 
der is all that is wanted in the treatment of horse and 
cattle diseases. 

Ginger. — Ztngiberis. A well known root, and a use- 
ful article to have in the house. 

Use. Ginger is given in cases of gripes, or colic, 
whether in horses or cattle, and should enter every dose 



364 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

of purgative medicine given to all the animals. Ginger 
is useful in loss of appetite in horses, and in calves is an 
excellent medicine to give with chalk, and other things, 
in scours, or diarrhoea. 

Doses. For horses and cattle, one to two ounces is the 
dose ; for sheep, two drachms ; for calves of three 
months old, one drachm, and for younger ones less. The 
essence of ginger, of the drug shops, is well adapted to 
use, as the active principle of the ginger is given without 
so much inert or dead matter. 

Glauber's Salts. — Sulphate of Soda. A good purga- 
tive for cattle and sheep. (See Epsom Salts.) 

Glycerine. — A fluid which scarcely ever dries up, and 
is the saccharine principle of fats. Bower's glycerine is 
the best in the American market, and is inodorous, or 
without smell, which is the best indication of its purity. 

Use. Many sores on all animals readily heal by the 
application of glycerine, especially scratches, and sores 
about the heels of horses. Glycerine will be found in- 
valuable for the use of companies, in all our cities, having 
horse railroads, where the authorities allow the use of salt 
on the streets, for the removal of snow. The slush so 
formed first chills, then scalds the skin of the heels, so that 
in a short time the skin cracks, and nasty sores are the 
result, which are difficult to cure. To prevent this con- 
dition of things, and to protect the heels of horses from 
the injurious effects of the salt and slush, the application 
of glycerine should be made to the heels morning and 
mid-day, whilst the salt, slush and snow are upon the 
streets. . 

Guaiacum. — This is a resin. 

Tincture of Guaiacum. — A valuable medicine in 



HEMP. 365 

cases of rheumatism in old horses, and in rheumatic lame- 
ness in dogs. 

Dose. For horses, the dose of the tincture will be half 
an ounce twice in the day, given in cut feed, or iu a drench 
with cold water. For dogs, ten to twenty drops, given in 
a spoonful of cold water or soup. 

Gum Arabic. — Gum Acacia. This is an importation 
from Alexandria, in Egypt. There are several varieties 
of gum. 

Gum Senegal. — This is similar to the above. 

Gum Tragacanth. — This is another variety of gum. 

Use. The gums are demulcents, emollient and soothing 
to an inflamed part, as the bowels in diarrhoea, the kidneys 
and bladder, when diseased and irritated. 

Doses. For horses and cattle, from one to two ounces. 
For calves and sheep, four drachms. Gum should be 
given dissolved in warm water, and drenched out of a 
bottle or ox horn. 

Hartshorn. — This is an impure solution of ammonia. 
(See Ammonia.) 

Hellebore. — Helleborus Niger. 

Use. Recommended in poll-evil, wherein a piece of the 
root is to be inserted in the fistulous opening. No depend- 
ence should be placed in it. Better agents are at hand. 

Hemlock. — Conium Maculatum. Formerly recom- 
mended in inflammation. It is of benefit in the form of 
a poultice to cancerous sores. 

Hemp, Indian. — Cannabis Indica. The colleges 
order a tincture and an extract. In the east of Europe, 
the resin of the plant is known as churrus, and its prepa- 
rations are known as gunjoli, bang and hachish. Accord- 



366 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

ing to the accounts which have reached us, in regard to 
the use of this article, no such action can be produced upon 
man from any preparation of the hemp iu use in America, 
as is represented to be produced amongst the subjects of 
His Majesty, the Sultan of Turkey. The genuine prepa- 
rations of Indian Hemp produce in man great excitement, 
high spirits, great laughter,talkativeness, pleasing thoughts, 
and a great appetite for food and sexual excitement, fol- 
lowed by sleep, from which the person recovers without 
any unpleasant effects. Experiments instituted by the 
writer with this medicine upon horses, do not warrant its 
introduction into the list of horse and cattle medicines. 

Henbane. — Hyoscyamus Niger. An extract and a 
tincture is ordered to be kept in the drug stores. Hyos- 
cyamus is indicated in all cases where belladonna is used. 
It has, however, little effect upon animals chewing the 
cud. To horses, it is occasionally given to relieve cough 
and irritation of the throat or windpipe. 

Dose. For horses, one to two drachms of the extract 
is the dose, which should be given, rubbed down in a little 
cold water, and repeated several times in the day. Better 
drugs, and less expensive ones, answer a better purpose. 
This medicine was formerly relied upon for the cure of 
insane persons, but is now almost discarded for that 
purpose. 

Iodine. — A chemical preparation manufactured from 
kelp or sea-weed and used both rightfully and wrongfully 
in many diseases. However, iodine itself is, I think, of 
little value as a medicine; but when united chemically 
with iron, copper, mercury, lead, arsenic and potassium, it 
certainly is one of the most useful and indispensable of 
medical agents, given internally, and applied externally. 



IODIDE OF POTASSIUM. 367 

Dose. Iodine is given to the horse and the ox in from 
twenty to forty grains; for dogs, use from three to six 
grains. An ointment of iodine is made as follows : Take 
one part of iodine to eight parts of lard. This is a good 
ointment to apply to soft swellings on the body of the 
horse, and should be applied by rubbing with the hand. 

Iodide of Potassium. —Hydriodate of Potash. This 
is a chemical union of potash with iodine, a costly remedy 
for horse and cattle diseases, and in most cases can be done 
very well without. Its action is that of an absorbent, and 
it is, therefore, used in swelling of the glands, and other 
parts of the body. To get its full benefit, it should be 
given in syrup or molasses, so that the iodine will not be 
lost, leaving the water only behind. 

Dose. From twenty to thirty grains for horses and 
cattle, repeated three times in the day. For the dog, five 
grains. 

(1.) Iodide of Arsenic. — Highly recommended by 
some persons for glanders, farcy and purpura in the horse. 

Dose. Five grains given once a day, in cut or mixed 
feed. 

(2.) Iodide of Copper. — A valuable remedy, but 
costly. It should be used only for valuable horses, in 
cases of debility and loss of condition, mingled with cut or 
mixed feed. 

Dose. From one to two drachms, given twice or three 
times in the day. 

(3.) Iodide of Iron. — This is even more valuable than 
that of the iodide of copper, and is given for the same 
purpose, and in the same doses. To use the iodide of iron 
once, will insure its use agfiin. Its high price is the only 
drawback. Iodide of iron enters into the powders and 



368 HOESE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

balls which are given to the English race horses, whilst in 
the trainer's hands; — a high recommendation. 

(4.) Iodide of Sulphur. — A valuable remedy in 
mange, and other skin diseases, which may be given 
internally also, in the same disease. 

Dose. For horses, give two to four drachms in the 
animal's feed. For mangy dogs, give ten to fifteen grains 
once a day. Give it at night, as warmth assists its action 
very much. 

(5.) Iodide of Lead. — Too weak for veterinary prac- 
tice, but excellent for swellings on the body of man. It 
is only used externally. Iodide of lead is of a beautiful 
yellow color. 

(6.) Iodide of Mercury. — Bin-Iodide of Mercury — 
Red Iodide of Mercury, etc. This preparation of iodine is 
a medicine that the educated veterinary surgeon cannot do 
without in the practice of his profession ; for there is 
nothing which will so well meet his wants. Iodide of 
mercury is not used internally, in any disease, as calomel 
contains the same internal action as that of the iodide. 

Use. It is used in all cases of induration and swelling 
of the glands of the neck ; tumors, whether of bone or soft 
tissue; splints, spavins, ring-bones, wind-galls, shoulder- 
joint lameness, or thoroughpin, and will answer well for 
an ordinary blister, for whatever purpose. The only 
objection to it, as a blister over an extensive surface, is its 
painful operation. 

The iodide of mercury is used as an ointmentas follows : 
One part of the red iodide of mercury to eight parts of 
hog's lard, well mixed together. This ointment is to be 
well rubbed into the parts to be cured; swelling will 
follow its action, but will subside in a few days, if one 
application be enough — which will be known, if the 



iron. 369 

enlargement has been broken or has disappeared. If not, 
apply in from five to six days again, scarcely rubbing so 
hard as at the first application, as the skin is more easily 
acted upon at this time. But whether one, two, or half a 
dozen applications be necessary, let sufficient time elapse 
before each succeeding application, so as not to prevent the 
hair growing, thereby blemishing the part. Apply lard 
once a day between each application, and occasionally 
wash the parts with water, not too warm, and lard or oil 
the part when dry. The horse's head should be tied up, 
so that he cannot get at the parts with his mouth. A few 
hours will be long enough. Place plenty of soft bedding 
under the feet, so that, by stamping, the horse will not 
break or hurt his feet. 

Observe. When, apparently, the tumor, gland, or other 
enlargement, does not disappear, or go away at once, 
surprise is sometimes expressed to see it totally go away, 
as if of its own accord. Thus the red iodide of mercury 
exercises a powerful influence, long after its use has been 
dispensed with. Iodide of mercury, occupies, in my estima- 
tion, in external diseases, as prominent a position as the 
preparations of aconite do in internal affections, whether in 
horses or cattle. 

Several other preparations of iodine are made by the 
manufacturing chemists ; such as the iodide of gold, and 
silver — which are of no use in horse and cattle diseases. 

Ipecacuanha. — Cephaelis Ipecacuanha. In veterinary 
practice, ipecacuanha is only used for dogs, in fifteen to 
thirty grains, as an emetic, when first attacked with dis- 
temper. 

Iron. — Ferrum. This is one of the most valuable 
medicines we have to recommend, in many of the most 
24 



370 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

important diseases, of all the animals ; a fact readily seen, 
when it is stated that iron is a constituent of the blood of 
all warm-blooded animals, and without iron being in proper 
quantity in the blood of an animal, it cannot be healthy — 
is anaemic, or impoverished in blood. In fact, iron is an 
elementary principle, essential to health. 

Metallic iron is rarely used in veterinary practice, except 
it be in the form of iron filings, given by some persons, 
in cases of worms in horses. The sulphate is just as good 
for this purpose. Iron filings, called Ferrum ttedactum, 
are much used in the weakly and sickly female. To pre- 
vent the filings from oxidizing, or rusting, they are put 
into a tube, similar to a gun barrel, at a strong heat, and 
are then plunged into cold water, which give them a sky- 
blue color; the finer the blue, the better the medicine. 
For the valuable dog, iron filings, in this form, may be 
given, in from five to ten grain doses. The following 
preparations of iron will be used for the horse and ox: 

(1.) Carbonate of Iron. — Ferri Carbonas. This 
preparation of iron is only used in veterinary practice, for 
the dog, on account of its mildness. 

(2.) Sesquioxide of Iron. — Rust of Iron — Ferugo. 
This form of iron is only used by veterinary surgeons, in 
poisoning from arsenic, as an antidote, by forming in the 
stomach an insoluble arsenite of the protoxide of iron. 

(3.) Sulphate of Iron. — Ferri Sulphas — Green 
Vitriol-Copperas. This is one of the best, and cheapest 
preparations of this valuable metal, that can be used in 
diseases of horses and cattle. 

Use. In medicinal doses the sulphate of iron is tonic 
and astringent; therefore, it is used in cases of weakness, 
want of condition, looseness of the bowels, swellings of the 
legs, body, sheath, breast, etc. It is improving, adding 



IRON. 371 

richness to the blood, and giving tonicity and health to the 
fibrous, serous tissue, from which the fluid causing the 
swelling arises. In pleuro-pneumonia in cattle, after fever 
has abated, nothing will restore and prevent effusions of 
serum, or fluid, in the chest, like sulphate of iron; and 
effusions in the chest of cows, and neat cattle, is the cause 
of very many deaths. The effusions form connecting links 
between the lungs and the sides, from which adhesions 
take place in that disease, and from which the animal can 
never be restored to good health, although it may live for 
a year or two. How important, then, is a medicine offer- 
ing so much hope ! 

In addition to the disease just named, sulphate of iron 
is the medicine to be used in all cases where the powers of 
life are low and depressed. In red water in cattle, bleed- 
ing internally in all animals, dysentery, purpura, scarlatina, 
and in debilitating diseases generally, no medicine offers 
so much as the sulphate of iron. 

Observe. Sulphate of iron should not be given while 
inflammation and fever lasts; it is time enough to give it 
after all irritation has subsided. It should always be 
combined with a vegetable tonic, such as gentian, or gin- 
ger. Iron changes the dung to a green color, as if the 
animal was at pasture. 

Doses. For horses and cattle, the dose is two to three 
drachms, with the same quantity of powdered gentian, two 
to three times in the day, to be given mixed in a quantity 
of cold water. Drench out of a bottle, if the animal does 
not eat it readily, mixed with cut, or soft feed. 

(4.) Perchloride of Iron. — Whether in a fluid or 
solid state, this preparation in valuable for bleeding wounds, 
to stop the flow of blood — which it will readily do, if 
properly applied, and the blood vessel that is wounded is 



372 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

not too large. It should be applied with a soft brush, or 
a pledget of soft cloth or cottou dipped in it and laid over 
the wound, and kept bandaged. Perchloride of iron 
should be kept in every farm, or country house, for this 
purpose. It should be kept in a glass-stoppered bottle to 
keep it pure. 

Jalap. — Convulvulus Jalapce. This root derives its 
name from a town in Mexico, called Xalapa, and grows 
fully six thousand feet above the sea level. It is, in veter- 
inary practice, used only as a purge for the dog, in from 
twenty to sixty grains. 

Juniper Berries. — Junipens Communis — The Fruit. 
This medicine is valuable in horse and cattle diseases, as a 
stimulant to the stomach in loss of appetite, and in con- 
valescence from debilitating diseases. 

Dose. For horses and cattle, one to two ounces is a 
dose. Dogs, twenty to forty grains. 

Kino. — A jnice of several plants. This is used as an 
astringent in diarrhoea in all animals, and is considered 
more powerful than catechu, (which see.) 

Kousso. — The flowers of this plant are brought from 
Abyssinia. 

Use. To expel, or destroy tape- worm in man, and the 
dog, and is prepared and used in the following manner: 
Take of kousso half an ounce, of warm water half a pint, 
let it stand till cool, and give it, flowers and all; and give 
next day a dose of castor-oil. 

Laudanum. — (See Opium.) 

Laxative. — A mild purge. 

Lead. — Plumbum. Metallic lead, in the form of shot, 
is used by our horse dealers, to relieve temporarily the 



LINSEED. 373 

heaving, or symptoms of broken wind, or heaves in horses. 
It will be needless for me to say, that if the lead is not 
speedily converted into an insoluble oxide, the animals 
so treated will die in a month or two. (See Lead 
Poisoning.) 

(1.) Oxide of Lead. — This preparation of lead is 
used in the manufacture of common sticking plaster, or 
Diachylon. 

(2.) Iodide of Lead. — (See Iodine.) 

(3.) Acetate of Lead. — Sugar of Lead. Solution of 
acetate of lead is known by the name of Goulard's Extract 
of Lead, and was formerly, and is still by some persons 
recommended, and used in case of sprains, and as a wash 
for diseased eyes. Better and less injurious agents are 
now used by the educated veterinary surgeon. 

Observe. Goulard's Extract, or lead-water, should never 
be used in diseases of the eye, as it can do no good beyond 
what cold water can do, but it dulls the eye, by making it 
hazy and opaque. It will be well to remember this, and 
act upon it, not minding what old and antiquated books 
and individuals may say or think in regard to what is here 
recommended. 

Lime. — Oxide of Calcium. 

Lime, Carbonate of. — (See Chalk.) 

Linseed. — Linum Usitatissimum. Ground flaxseed 
makes the best poultice, as it is less irritating and retains 
its moisture better than most articles in use for that 
purpose. 

Cake Mead. — That portion which is kept after the oil 
has been expressed from the seed, is a good feed for horses 
and cows, given occasionally, and makes a good and much 
cheaper poultice than the more costly seed. 



374 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

Linseed Oil. — Oleum IAni. This is a good and safe 
purgative lor the horse, and should be given by farmers 
and non-professional persons in preference to any other 
article. The English veterinary surgeons use linseed oil 
for colic in the horse, in the following combination : Lin- 
seed oil, one pint, and two ounces each of oil of turpentine 
and laudanum. In cases of choking, in either horses or 
cattle, a half pint of linseed oil should be poured down the 
throat, so that by its emollient properties the substance 
may pass readily down the gullet. 

Doses. For horses, one to two pints is the dose used for 
a purgative. For scalds and burns, linseed oil is mixed 
with lime-water. (See Lime-water.) 

Liquorice Hoot. — Glycyrrltiza Radix. This was for- 
merly in use for making balls for horses, but it is now 
superseded by molasses. 

Lobelia Inflata. — Indian Tobacco. This medicine is 
in great use by the eclectic physicians in the United States 
as an emetic, which fact, I believe, has induced Dr. Dadd 
to recommend it to veterinary surgeons and horsemen of 
this country. Does the Doctor not yet know that the 
horse, the ox and the sheep, cannot vomit ? Therefore, it 
is not entitled to a position, for such purpose, in the veteri- 
nary Materia Medica. 

Logwood. — Hcematoxylon Campechianum,. This is a 
valuable medicine, not well known and consequently not 
appreciated. 

Use. One of the very best astringents for binding the 
bowels in diarrhoea and dysentery, in all animals, and 
especially when accompanied with irritation of the bowels. 
Logwood is cheap, sold in chips, and is prepared and given 
in the following manner: 



MARIGOLD. 375 

Logwood chips, two ounces ; boiling water, one pint. 
Allow it to stand till cold, then strain through cloth, or a 
fine sieve. 

Dose. For horses and cows, this quantity will make 
one dose. For calves with scours, one to three ounces will 
be the dose, which repeat if the case demands it. A safe 
remedy, and cheap. 

Lunar Caustic. — (See Silver.) 

Lupuline. — The Hop. Makes a good poultice, applied 
to the udders of cows, when lumpy and hard. It hastens 
the suppurative process. 

Lytta-Cantharides. — (See Spanish Fly.) 

Magnesia. — Oxide of Magnesium. Used sometimes in 
young foals and calves, when they have no appetite. A 
good antidote for arsenical poisoning. 

Dose. For these animals, two drachms to six is the 
dose. A little ginger should be added to it to prevent 
griping. 

(1.) Carbonate of Magnesia. — Magnesia Alba. The 
action of this is similar to the preceding. 

(2.) Sulphate of Magnesia. — (See Epsom Salts.) 

Manganese. — A metal used as a disinfectant, in com- 
bination with some one of the mineral acids. For the 
way to use it, see Disinfectants. 

Marsh Mallow. — The Root of Alihea Officinalis. 
Used in the form of an ointment, but not of much utility. 
It, however, still holds a place in horse and cattle medi- 
cines. It can be done without. 

Marigold. — Calendula Officinalis. A garden plant. 
Tincture of Marigold. — This is a good application 



376 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

to sores, ulcers, and abscesses, and is applied with soft 
cloths, saturated or moistened with it, and laid over the 
affected part. It is a new remedy in burns and scalds. 

Mercury. — A liquid metal called quicksilver. In its 
metallic state it is not used as a medicine. There, how- 
ever, is a prevalent idea in the minds of ignorant persons 
that doctors and veterinary surgeons give this substance 
to force a passage through the bowels, and that if it fails 
the bowels and stomach will be ruptured or torn. If the 
patient should die, the blame is not unfrequently laid on 
the use of quicksilver by the doctor, when this substance 
was never thought of for any such purpose. Quicksilver 
has no action whatever on the animal system, either in 
health or sickness. 

(1.) Mercury with Chalk. — Gray Powder. Used 
in diarrhoea in calves, in doses from ten to fifteen grains, 
given with a little ginger, and mixed with wheat-flour 
gruel. 

(2.) Iodide of Mercury. — (See Iodine.) 

(3.) Bi-Chloride of Mercury. — Corrosive Sublimate. 
A dangerous poison, and should never be given to any 
animal. It is, however, used in solution, in some skin 
diseases, as in ring-worm and mange. When so used, only 
a small portion of the body should be washed with it in 
one day. For this purpose, take four grains of the sub- 
limate to two ounces of rain water. For a dog, two grains 
to the ounce, in water, will be strong enough. 

(4.) Nitrate of Mercury. — Ointment. This is the 
citron or golden ointment, and is a good remedy in ring- 
worm. Unfortunately, however, it spoils with long 
keeping, and not being made extemporaneously, it is often 
rancid and of little value. 



MUSTARD SEED. 377 

(5.) Oxide of Mercury. — Red Precipitate. Used in 
the treatment of unhealthy ulcers and sores, in the form 
of powder and ointment. It is the principle in the yellow- 
wash already spoken of in connection with the subject of 
lime, (which see.) 

(6.) Sulphate of Mercury. — Tarbith Mineral. A 
medicine of no use, which should be expunged from the 
books on horse and cattle diseases. 

(7.) Sub-Chloride of Mercury. — Calomel. A medi- 
cine I never use, and will not recommend for internal 
administration. In the form of the black-wash, and 
sprinkled upon sores, it is a good remedy. Calomel is 
recommended for thrush in the feet of horses, and is in- 
serted in the cleft of the frog. 

Mercurial Ointment. — This is sold in the drug stores. 

The ointment of mercury is chiefly used \n skin diseases, 
as mange in horses and dogs. But a better remedy will 
be found in sulphur, and its preparations, which are not 
only more safe, but more certain of curing the case. 

Mezeron. — Daphne Mezerum. A plant from the bark 
of which an extract is made and from the extract an oint- 
ment composed of one drachm to four parts of lard, which 
is used for the purpose of keeping up the irritation of 

blisters. 

Morphia. — (See Opium.) 

Muriatic Acid. — (See Acids.) 

Mustard Seed. — Sinapis Nigra. Used as an irritant 
on parts of the body, where the Spanish fly would be 
improper and dangerous. On the belly, and over the 
loins are the usual places where mustard is applied. In 
lumbago, and sprains of the back and loins, and in pain in 



378 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

the bowels, mustard is useful. The mode of application 
of mustard is as follows : If the hair of the part be long, 
cut it off, then foment the part with warm water, and 
immediately rub into the parts a handful of the best flour 
of mustard. This is more effectual than laying a paste or 
poultice without rubbing. 

Volatile Oil of mustard makes a good counter-irritant, 
when a few. drops are rubbed into the skin. Vinegar 
added to mustard does not, as it is thought, produce a 
better effect. Warm water answers every purpose. 

Myrrh. — A gum resin, used in the form of a tincture 
and a compound tincture, for sores, and a good application 
in sore mouth, from the bit, or other cause. 

Narcotics are medicines which act upon the brain, 
ami thereby allay pain. Examples: Opium and its prep- 
arations, aconite and chloroform. 

Neat's-Foot Oil. — Used for skin diseases, and for 
allaying the irritation of blisters and keeping the skin 
from cracking. 

Nervines. — Medicines relieving pain, without pro- 
ducing narcotism. 

Nitric Acid. — (See Acids.) 

Nitre. — Saltpetre. This medicine has long been used as 
a diuretic, and as a febrifuge in low fevers. Cheaper and 
better medicines are daily in use for this purpose. Nitre 
is not a cheap medicine, nor yet is it an indispensable one. 
The days are past when emetic, tartar, nitre, and digitalis 
were the remedies used in cases of inflammation, irritation 
and fever. This formula has in its day deceived many 
a man and has been the means whereby many thousands 
of valuable animals have been lost. Wherever nitre 



NUX VOMICA. 379 

is indicated, I use the sulphite of soda, and have no cause 
to regret the change. A bundle of fresh cut grass given 
to a horse, will have a better, and more soothing effect 
than nitre. Instead of being given in any disease, nitre 
should be left to fulfil its destiny in the making of gun- 
powder to liberate the toiling millions of other lands from 
the hands of the despot and the oppressor. 

Nux Vomica. — Strychnos Nux Vomica. An active 
poison in large doses, but a valuable agent in the cure of 
diseases in all animals. The powdered nut is uncertain in 
its effects, therefore the tincture and the alkaloid should 
should only be used. 

Use. A nervine, and used when the nerves are depressed 
and weak; just as aconite is used when the nerves are 
strong and excited. The one medicine is used in depres- 
sion, and the other in diseases with exalted symptoms. 
Paralysis or palsy is the loss of power in the motor nerves 
of the part affected. Therefore, nux vomica is used in 
twitching of the muscles of all animals; and in glass 
eye in the horse, depending upon the want of nervous 
energy in the optic, or nerve of vision. 

Tincture. — Dose. For horses and cattle, the dose is 
from ten to twenty drops, repeated three to four times in 
the day. 

Strychnine. Dose. To horses and cattle, give one 
grain, once a day, gradually increasing the dose till three 
grains are given in the day. To get the full benefit from 
it, it will have to be given for a week or two, if the beast 
has not got well by that time. In the use of strychnine, 
care and good judgment must be exercised, for it must be 
remembered that however useful a drug or medicine may 
be, its abuse is readily accomplished. Strychnine should 



380 • HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

be administered in feed, if the animal will eat it; if not, 
give it in gruel in the form of a drench. Twelve grains 
is the dose required to kill a full-grown horse. 

Arsenite of Strychnia is recommended by the French 
veterinary surgeons, in nasal discharges, but with what 
eifect is not stated. If it does not cure, as I suppose it 
does not, it only serves to show to my mind how utterly 
ignorant veterinary surgeons are in regard to the true pa- 
thology of these discharges, supposed to be glanders. 
Mr. Gamgee, on the International Veterinary Congress, 
held at Hamburg, says, " When the subject of glanders was 
mentioned, no one responded." Why? certainly not that 
they knew all about it. No, the contrary is the case, for 
they knew nothing at all about its nature, and hence we 
have the French using a drug the least of all likely to 
change, arrest, or cure the disease. Prussian blue is said 
to contain ten per cent, of strychnia; some packages con- 
tain as high as sixty grains. 

Oak Bark. — Quercus Cortex. This is a good astringent 
for outward use, or for sores which discharge or run 
matter. The bark is boiled : half an ounce to a pint of 
water. This decoction is an excellent remedy for drying 
up the moisture of greasy heels, so troublesome in horses. 
In diarrhoea in calves, given in four drachm doses, much 
good will result. 

Oils. — There are two varieties of oils used in medicine 
— fixed and volatile. 

Fixed Oils. — Castor, olive, linseed, croton and neat's- 
foot oil. The uses of these oils will be found treated of 
under their respective heads. 

Opium. — Papaver Somniferum. The dried juice of the 
white poppy, and if one of the most remarkable substances 



opium. 381 

in nature. There are several varieties of opium : Turkish, 
Egyptian, East Indian, Persian, and European opium. 
The medical preparations of opium are several : 

Morphia, or mor'phine, is the most important preparation 
of opium, and sold in the drug stores in the form of white 
crystals, as also in that of a liquid — liquor morphia acetas, 
and liquor morphia sulphas. Either of these preparations 
of opium are much better medicines than the crude opium 
itself. Each fluid ounce contains one grain of the mor- 
phine, or the true principle of the opium, and one grain of 
morphine is equal to three grains of opium, or to forty- 
five drops of the tincture of opium, commonly called 
laudanum. 

Use. Opium is a narcotic, or reliever of pain, and is 
especially recommended in milk fever in cows. 

Dose. The dose of the acetate, sulphate, or muriate in 
crystals, for the horse, is from twenty to forty grains. For 
the cow with milk fever, from forty to eighty grains. To 
a medical man, such large doses may seem enormous, for 
in man the dose is from half to one grain. 

Horses will scarcely show the least effects from the 
administration of from two to four drachms of the pow- 
dered opium. On cattle, opium has even much less power 
than on horses. Cows can take one ounce, and sheep half 
a drachm of powdered opium, without suffering. The 
doses of crude, or powdered opium for horses, are from 
one to two drachms, and for cattle, two to four drachms. 
In veterinary practice, opium is not now so much used, as 
aconite answers almost every purpose for which opium was 
given, and without in any way binding the bowels. But 
in case of milk fever, opium, or its alkaloid morphia, is 
well worthy of a trial, and if taken in time, will scarcely 
disappoint any one. 



382 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

Tincture of Opium. — Laudanum. — Every fifteen 
drops of the tincture contain one grain of opium. Lau- 
danum is the most costly of all the preparations of opium ; 
and not only that, the large quantity of alcohol, or spirits 
of wine it contains, is a decided objection to its use in 
many diseases. Crude opium rubbed down with a little 
water will be far better when it is to be used at once, or 
not kept for any time. Laudanum is used in lotions and 
liniments for the relief of pain, and it enters into eye washes, 
for the same purpose. 

Wine of opium contains spices. Not much used. 

Codia, narcotine, narceine, paramorphia, papaverine, 
meconine and meconic acid, are the various constituents 
of opium, but they are not used in medicine, either in 
domestic or veterinary. 

Battley's sedative drops,so well and familiarly known 
throughout the world, wherever the English language is 
spoken, though a secret, are known to contain opium, 
water and a little spirit, and are one-third stronger than 
laudanum. 

Pariera Brava. — A root which is to be sliced, and 
have one pint of water added to one ounce of the root. 
Boil, and strain when cold. This is a good tonic for 
horses. Mix with the feed, half a pint to the dose. 

Peach Leaves. — One ounce infused in the same way 
as tea, with one pint of water, is an excellent application 
for the skin of animals having the itch and skin diseases. 

Peppermint. — Mentha Piperita. The essence of this 
garden plant is sometimes given to horses having colic, 
and given in doses of twenty drops. Dogs can have three 
drops for a dose, in the same disease. 



phosphorus. 383 

Pepper. — A plant, and fruit, of the genus Piper. 

(1.) Black Pepper. — Piper Nigrum. Occasionally 
given to horses affected with colic. 

(2) Jamaica Pepper. — Pimento — Allspice. This is a 
valuable medicine for horses and cattle affected with fever, 
loss of appetite and indigestion. 

Doses. From three to five drachms, and given in com- 
bination with ammonia. 

(3.) Capsicum. — Cayenne Pepper. This is also used for 
the same purpose as the above, and given in from twenty 
to thirty grain doses. 

Pepsin. — The active principle of the gastric juice of 
animals. Its cost prevents its use in calves having diar- 
rhoea, when the discharges are like milk. A good substi- 
tute for pepsin is rennet, which farmers should have about 
mem, not only for cheese-making purposes, but for use in 
looseness, or scours in calves. It assists the stomach to 
digest the milk, which, in diarrhoea, lays upon the stomach, 
without being digested or changed. Hence, the white 
diarrhoea, so often seen in calves. 

Petroleum. — Pock-oil. This substance was formerly 
highly recommended in chest diseases, but it has been suc- 
ceeded by more certain and successful drugs for this 
purpose. However, it is still occasionally used as an 
external application for sores, and for the destruction of 
lice, etc., in the skin. It is apt to leave a blemish by 
causing the hair to fall off, and in some cases, in which I 
have seen it used too extensively, the hair did not come 
again. The better way to use coal-oil is to mix equal 
parts with some other oil having no acrid principle. 

Phosphorus. — An elementary substance resembling 
wax. There is, however, another resembling brick dust, 



384 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

when in a mass. The preparations of phosphorus are 
numerous: Hypophosphate of ammonia, hypophosphate 
of iron, and the phosphate of lime, or bone, or earth, 
phosphate of soda, and of quinine. Phosphoric acid, 
diluted, is the one which should be used in veterinary 
practice. 

Phosphoric Acid. — Is used in diseases of the bones of 
young colts. 

Doses. For young colts, the dose will vary from ten 
to sixty drops, given diluted in cold water. 

Pitch. — Burgundy Pitch. The concrete juice of the 
abies excelsa. This is used in the composition of the 
plaster, formerly used over the loins, in weakness, sprang, 
lumbago, etc., in the horse. Not now recommended. 

Pomegranate Punica. — Granatum. The bark rf 
the root of this tree is used for the destruction of tape* 
worm, in all animals. Take of the bark, one ounce; 
water, one pint; and boil down one-half. The dose for 
the dog will be a small wineglassful. 

Poppies. — (See Opium.) 

Potash. — Oxide of Potassium. Preparations of pot- 
ash are many : — 

(1.) Caustic Potash. — Used, as its name indicates, as 
a caustic, and is a favorite one of mine. Many persons 
object to it, on account of its extreme fluidity, which I 
consider to be its most valuable property; as, if it did not 
readily assume a fluid form, its caustic properties would 
not be so good. Indeed, according to its fluidity, when 
applied to a part, so is its caustic property. For the quick 
reduction of proud flesh, it has no superior. 

(2.) Carbonate of Potash. — This is sometimes used 



RHUBARB. 385 

as an antacid, but is not much used in horse and cattle 
diseases. 

(3.) Sulphuret of Potash. — Hepar Sulph. — Liver of 
Sulphur. This is a valuable remedy when applied to mange 
in all animals. Dissolve an ounce in a pint of water, first 
having rubbed the mangy part with fine sand, to expose 
the insect to the action of the sulphuret. 

(4.) Sulphate of Potash. — (See Glauber's Salts.) 

(5.) Iodide of Potash. — (See Iodine.) 

(6.) Nitrate of Potash. — (See Saltpetre.) — The ace- 
tate, and tartrate of potash, are not used in veterinary 
practice. 

(7.) Chlorate of Potash. — Used for the same pur- 
poses as the nitrate, and in the same doses. The same 
may be said of the permanganate. 

Prussic Acid. — (See Acid.) 

Pumpkin Seeds. — An excellent remedy for destroy- 
ing tape- worm. 

Purgatives. — Medicines which empty the bowels. 

Pyroxylic Spirit. — Wood Naphtha. Used to relieve 
chronic cough, and is given in half-ounce doses in gruel. 

Quinine. — (See Cinchona.) 

Rennet. — (See Pepsin.) 

Rhubarb. — Rheum Palmatum. Rhubarb is a tonic 
and purgative in dogs and other carnivorous animals, but 
in horses and cattle it has scarcely any effect whatever, 
further than improving the appetite. Better, and much 
more efficient and cheaper drugs are used in horse and 
cattle diseases. I know of a gentleman farmer, who uses 
the spiced rhubarb in young calves, in cases of looseness 
25 



386 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

of the bowels, and in diarrhoea. The dose of the spiced 
rhubarb is from one to two teaspoonfuls, repeating it two 
to three times a day. 

Ricinus Communis. — (See Castor-oil.) 

Rochelle Salts. — (A Tartrate of Potash and Soda.) 

Saffron. — Crocus Sativus. — (See Colchicum.) 

Sagapenum. — This is a gum, and is used for the same 
purposes as asafoetida. 

Sal Ammoniac. — Chloride of Ammonia. (See Am- 
monia.) 

Salt. — Table Salt. Chloride of Sodium, a valuable 
condiment, when given with the food of animals. Salt is 
a laxative in horses, cattle and sheep, and is considered 
a preventive of sheep rot. 

Sal Volatile. — This is the compound spirit of am- 
monia. (See Ammonia.) 

Sassafras* — Laurus Sassafras. This is a favorite 
remedy with farmers for their horses, and is given to them 
in the spring of the year, to strengthen and improve the 
appetite. Sassafras may be given to horses, either in the 
form of a powder, or as a decoction or tea, and mixed 
with the food. 

Sarracenia Purpura. — Indian Cup or Pitcher Plant. 
This plant is found growing along the coast of Labrador, 
and the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, on wet and marshy 
land. 

Use. This plant has recently proved to be one of the 
most useful in the whole list of medicines, and from all 
accounts, it is, and will still be a blessing to thousands 
who may become affected with small-pox. For small-pox 



SENEGA, POLYGALA SENEGA, 387 

in cattle and sheep, it is not only a sure remedy, but also, 
as good a preventive for the disease. The form and 
manner of using this medicine, is in that of a tea. The 
time, however, will soon be, when the chemist will provide 
us with an extract, or an alkaloid of this plant, which 
will enable us to give the essence of the plant without any 
inert matter. Take from one to two ounces of the dried 
root, and slice in thin pieces, place in an earthen pot, or 
other vessel, and add a quart of cold water, and allow the 
liquid to simmer gently over a slow fire, for two to three 
hours, so as to lose one-fourth of the quantity. 

Dose. Give to cattle, half a pint; and to sheep, two 
wineglassfuls; repeating the dose in six hours, when a 
cure will generally be effected. 

Savin. — Juniperus Sabina. The oil of juniper is used 
in veterinary practice, for the purpose of destroying worms 
in all animals. 

Doses. For horses and cattle, the dose is from three to 
four drachms, and for the dog, three to five drops. An 
ointment of the dried savin tops is used for the purpose of 
keeping up the action of blisters. Take one part of the 
fresh tops, to sixteen parts of lard. 

Sedatives. — Medicines which allay inordinate action 
of the heart. 

Senegp, Polygala Senega. — Snakeroot. This, like 

others of our native herbs, is often used by country folks 
in the spring of the year. They give a decoction, or tea 
of the snakeroot to their horses. It is an excellent remedy 
in coughs, bronchitis, cold, etc. Take one ounce, boil in 
a pint and a half of water, and strain through a sieve or 
strainer. 



388 



HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 



Dose. For a horse, half a pint, mixed in his feed, night 
and morning. 

SialagOgues. — Medicines which increase the secretion 
of saliva, such as aconite in large doses, and second crop 
clover, after it has been exposed to cold nights or a little 
frost. 

Silver, Nitrate of. — Lunar Caustic. Used as a 
caustic to unhealthy sores and ulcers; and a solution, 
three to four grains to an ounce of rain or distilled water, 
is used to the eye in purulent ophthalmia. The nitrate of 
silver is too costly for general use. The sulphate of copper, 
or blue stone, will, for most purposes, answer as well, and 
is very cheap. 




CAUSTIC HOLDER. 



Soap. — A combination of fatty acid with an alkali. 

Soap Liniment. — Opodeldoc. A very useful applica- 
tion for sprains, bruises, and for stiff joints. 

Soda. — A mineral alkali. 

(1.) Carbonate of Soda. — Useful as an antacid, in 
doses of from two to four drachms. 

(2.) Sulphate of Soda.— (See Glauber's Salts.) 

(3.) Sulphite of Soda. — This is made by passing a 
stream of sulphurous acid through a concentrated solution 
of carbonate of soda. It is a valuable article in the treat- 
ment of diseases of horses and cattle. The sulphite of soda 
possesses the power of neutralizing the action of zumins, 



SPANISH FLY. 389 

ferments, or leavens, when introduced into the circulation. 
Professor Polli, of Milan, has clearly demonstrated that 
this substance is capable of purifying the blood of noxious 
matters, and further, he has by his experiments upon dogs 
proved that glanders can be cured by it : for he says, that 
forty-five grains of the virus of glanders taken from the 
nares of the nose of a glandered horse, and injected into 
the circulation of a dog, after the disease had shown itself 
in the dog, was readily cured by the administration of the 
sulphite of soda. Upwards of seventy cases have thus 
been experimented upon by this distinguished professor — 
all going to show the value of soda, as a purifier of the 
blood, by its alterative effects. 

Sulphite of soda is a remedy in all cases of eruptions on 
the skin, in farcy, glanders and purpura in the horse, and in 
pleuro-pneumonia and rinderpest, etc., in cattle. Wherever 
pus is thrown out as a product of disease, the sulphite of 
soda should be given. Dogs with distemper should have 
it to keep the circulation pure of pus. The blood of the 
dog becomes contaminated in this way, and hence, the good 
dog falls a victim to this scourge of fine bred animals. 

Dose. For horses and cattle, the dose is from half an 
ounce, to one ounce, given twice in the day. For dogs, 
twenty grains given in camphor water. In farcy and 
glanders or other diseases, accompanied with debility, the 
soda should be combined with gentian and other tonics. 

Spanish Fly. — Lytta Cantharides. An insect ground 
into powder, and mixed with lard or oil, making what is 
familiarly known as a blister. The Spanish fly is, besides 
its blistering qualities, a very valuable internal medicine, 
a powerful tonic and alterative, and has been used with 
success, in the hands of Mr. Vines, of London, England, 



390 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

in the cure of farcy and glanders in the horse. In the same 
diseases, and where the lungs were free from tubercles, I 
have cured them with the Spanish fly, gentian, copper, and 
the sulphite of soda. 

Dose. Spanish fly is given to the horse in five grain 
doses once a day only, and mixed in cut or soft feed. 
Horses are more easily affected by the Spanish fly than 
mares. Blisters of Spanish fly are made as follows : Pow- 
dered Spanish fly, one drachm; hog's lard, six drachms; 
mix, and apply, by rubbing with the hand into the part 
to be blistered ; wash off the part the next day, oil or lard 
it for a week, and the swelling will leave when the irritation 
has gone out of the part. 

The tincture of Spanish fly was formerly used as the 
basis of the old sweating blister. An excellent application 
for the removal of a splint, or soft tumors about the legs 
of horses, is made as follows : Tincture of Spanish fly, one 
ounce; oil of croton, twenty drops; well rubbed into the 
part, it acts like magic; that is, if the tumor can be 
removed at all by any means. 

Specifics. — Medicines which cure disease, but the 
manner of action is unknown. 

Spermaceti. — This is a solid crystalline fat, found in 
the large head of the sperm whale. There is a plan, 
however, by which it is said that spermaceti can be made 
out of the muscles of a dead cow or horse, by enclosing the 
flesh in a box perforated with holes, and sinking it in a 
running stream of water for a month or more, when the 
flesh will be converted into a mass of tough, solid matter. 
After which, it is treated with nitrous acid, poured over 
it to remove the offensive smell, and to separate the fat. 
Another plan is, to pour nitrous acid over the flesh without 



SPONGE. 391 

immersion in the brook, and which is said to convert the 
flesh in the short period of three days into a yellow colored 
spermaceti. Another plan is mentioned by Lord Bacon, 
in his work Sylva Sylvarium, in which he says that the 
flesh of an animal may be changed into a fatty substance, 
by cutting it into pieces, putting it into a glass vessel, 
covering with parchment, and allowing it to stand for six 
or seven hours in boiling water. Experiments of this kind 
might result in profit to those who would undertake them. 
The use of spermaceti in horse and cattle diseases, is for 
the making of ointments and salves, especially in hot 
weather, when lard cannot be conveniently carried with- 
out the risk, not only of losing a portion of the ointment, 
but of soiling the clothing, or other articles coming in 
contact with it. 

Spirits of Nitrous Ether. — Sweet spirits of nitre is 
well known to most persons as a good household remedy 
for fevers, etc. In the treatment of diseases of horses and 
cattle, sweet spirits of nitre is used as a stimulant and 
antispasmodic. It is also used in the case of a horse hav- 
ing a chill, and in colic. For colic, it was formerly given 
in combination with laudanum. 

Dose. For horses and cattle, the dose of sweet spirits 
nitre will be from one to two ounces, given in cold water 
to prevent loss. 

Spirits Of Wine. — Alcohol. This is used for making 
tinctures for medicinal purposes, from the various plants 
in use. It is also a good stimulant; much better than the 
bad whisky which is so often poured down the throats of 
horses affected with colic. 

Sponge. — A valuable article for the cleansing of wounds 
and sores. 



392 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

Starch — A good remedy in diarrhoea in all animals, 
when combined with a few grains of opium, and a little 
ground ginger, or a few drops of the tincture, commonly 
called the essence. 

Styptics. — Substances having the quality of stopping 
bleeding from wounds. Examples: Perchloride of iron, 
cobwebs, the hot iron, and the bandage. 

Sudorifics. — Medicines which produce sweating. 

Sugar of Milk. — Much used by homeeopathists, both 
domestic and veterinary, in the form of powder, butoftener 
in the form of globules or small pellets. Not recom- 
mended for the treatment of any disease. Molasses is the 
best form in which to give sugar to animals, and it is use- 
ful in cases of sick cows, mixed in a drench. 

Sugar of Lead. — (See Acetate of Lead.) 

Sulphuric Acid. — (See Acids.) 

Sulphur. — Brimstone. — Sulphur is kept in the drug 
stores in three forms, flotvers of sulphur, milk of sulphur, 
and sulphur vivum. 

Use. Sulphur is chiefly used for skin diseases, in the 
form of an ointment. It is believed by many persons to 
be a great preventive of diseases and distempers in all 
animals, and is one of the ingredients of an incongruous 
mass extolled and recommended by the Hon. Isaac Newton, 
Commissioner of Agriculture, as a preventive of cattle 
diseases. Whatever may be the medicinal virtue possessed 
by sulphur, it certainly has no prophylactic effects mixed 
with tar, etc. The simple ointment of sulphur is made as 
follows : One part of the flowers, or sulphur vivum, mixed 
with four parts of lard. In winter, when lard is hard, 



SULPHUROUS ACID ©AS. 398 

oil should be used instead, thus forming a liniment of sul- 
phur more easy of application. 

Doses. Sulphur, as a laxative for horses and cattle, 
should be given in doses from one to three ounces, and 
administered in gruel, in the form of a drench. For dogs, 
the dose is one to two drachms. It is not recommended 
as an internal medicine. 

Sulphurous Acid Gas. — This is one of the most 

powerful disinfectants we have. The great objection to 
its general use for this purpose is, its poisonous character 
when breathed or inhaled to any extent. But from recent 
experiments instituted by Dr. James Dewor, of Kirkcaldy, 
Scotland, for testing the efficacy of sulphurous acid gas as a 
disinfectant, results are shown which lead to the conviction 
that diseases such as cholera in man, and rinderpest and 
pleuro-pneumonia in cattle, may not only be prevented, but 
much modified by this, hitherto considered, poisonous gas. 
The method of generating sulphurous acid gas is very 
simple and inexpensive. It is only necessary to have a 
small chaifern of red hot cinders from a coal fire, a small 
crucible on the hot cinders, and a piece of sulphur-stick 
about as large as a man's thumb placed into it. This will 
fumigate a large cattle shed, or stable, in twenty minutes. 
Contrary to expectation, the animals seem to enjoy it, and 
it acts at the same time as a tonic on man and beast. The 
shed or other house must be well ventilated, by having 
the windows a little open before, during, and after the 
fumigation. Sanitary rules must be enforced in regard to 
cleanliness, removal of dung-heaps, etc. During the 
prevalence of such epizootics as are above named, the 
fumigation may be made, according to the foregoing direc- 
tions, four to five times in the day. It is further said, 



394 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

that the treatment has not only cured some cases of the 
above-named diseases ; but that mange, ring-worm and lice 
have also vanished before it, and that greasy heels in 
horses have also been cured by it, while severe cases of 
tubercles of the lungs, glanders, and farcy have also been 
relieved by the inhalation of this gas. This is well worthy 
a fair trial, and if it but accomplish half what is claimed 
for it, a great and cheap fumigation and disinfectant is 
within the reach of any one. But, bear in mind, that it is 
a poisonous gas, and to prevent a deleterious effect, have 
free ventilation through the whole place. 

Sulphate of Zinc. — White Vitriol. This is a valuable 
article for healing wounds and sores. It is not adminis- 
tered internally to any animal, except as an emetic to dogs. 
As an external wash for sores, one part of zinc to twenty 
of rain-water will answer for most purposes. For eye- 
wash, three to four grains to the ounce of water. This is 
one of the best applications which can be applied to the 
eye in cases of purulent ophthalmia. 

Tannate of Glycerine. — Au excellent application, 
for the eyes, in purulent ophthalmia, and for moist sores, 
wherever situated upon the body. 

Tannin. — This is the acid of barks, and is valuable, 
mixed with water, in running ulcers and sores, and in 
diarrhoea, in all animals. The powder sprinkled upon 
bleeding sores, will in many cases stop them. One drachm 
to a pint of cold water makes a good eye-wash, and in 
many cases dries up the scum, and removes it altogether. 
It is certainly a cheap and useful remedy, and can do no 
harm to the eye. 

Doses. For horses and cattle, in diarrhoea, the dose of 
tannic acid is from half to one drachm, given in gruel as a 



TOBACCO. 395 

drench. For calves with the same disease, give from ten 
to twenty grains as a dose, mixed with wheat-flour gruel. 
Snuffed up the nostrils by man, in bleeding from the nose, 
it will in most cases arrest it at once. 

Tannin of Krameria. — This is used for the same 
purpose as the preceding, but it is a better styptic, or 
arrester of bleeding from the skin or other sores. 

Tar. — Pix Liquida. Tar is not now used internally to 
the extent it formerly was. To cattle it is still given in a 
disease of the throat called dyers. For this purpose egg- 
shells are filled with good Barbadoes tar, and suspended 
on the end of a split stick, and gently pushed down the 
throat of the ox. As an external application, tar is still 
used on sores about cattle, to keep the flies off; and it is 
used to make stopping for horses' feet, singly, and mixed 
with clay. It is kept in every horse-shoeing shop for 
putting on the soles, usually with cotton, and having 
leather nailed on with the shoe. 

Oil of Tar. — This is an excellent application when 
mixed with equal parts with sweet, or some fish oil, to pro- 
mote the growth of horn on the foot of the horse. To 
give it a dark color to suit the foot, lamp-black may be 
stirred in, in sufficient quantity to make a black hoof oint- 
ment, which will be found an excellent formula for this 
purpose. 

Tartar Emetic— (See Antimony.) 

Tobacco. — Nicotiana Tabacum. Tobacco is used as a 
medicine, principally in skin diseases, and for the destruc- 
tion of lice and other insects in the wool of sheep. Tobac- 
co smoke is a favorite remedy with some veterinarians, 
for the removal and killing of worms, and in constipation, 
and colic. For these purposes, better and safer agents 



396 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

are in every-day use. Tobacco in all, or any of its forms, 
is dangerous, being followed by great sickness, nausea and 
prostration, from which many animals are ultimately 
destroyed. 

Tragacanth. — (See Gum.) 

Turpentine. — Terebinilm. The various varieties of 
turpentine in market. 

(1.) Common Turpentine. — The produce of the pinus 
palustris of North Carolina, and other States, and also of 
Norway, and the north of Europe. The pinus sylvestris, 
or Scotch fir, yields considerable turpentine. 

(2.) Venice Turpentine. — This is procured from the 
Larix Europea. 

(3.) Canada Balsam. — Procured from Abies Bahamas, 
and is considered to be the purest of all the turpentines; 
hence it is called, sometimes, the balsam of Gilead. 

(4.) Frankincense. — A product of Norway, and the 
north of Europe. This variety enters into the composition 
of what is known as Burgundy pitch, and is used in vet- 
erinary practice for making adhesive plasters for the loins 
of horses having been sprained, or having lumbago. 

(5.) Oil op Turpentine. — This is commonly called 
the spirits of turpentine, and is used very largely in horse 
and cattle diseases, both for internal administration and 
external application. 

Uses. Oil of turpentine is a powerful stimulant, diuretic, 
and antispasmodic, and is, therefore, used in colic in the 
horse, in puerperal apoplexy in cows, and in general 
debility in all animals. As an external embrocation, it is 
very efficient when combined with an equal portion of 
sweet oil, but very dangerous when applied to the skin of 
the horse alone. The horse will become restless, and, in 
some cases, utterly unmanageable. 



VALERIAN. 397 

Doses. The doses of oil of turpentine for horses and 
cows are from one to two ounces, always mixed with its 
own bulk of oil, especially for horses. For dogs affected 
with tape-worm, half to one drachm is the dose, mixed 
with the yolk of an egg. 

(6.) Rosin, or Resin — The residue left from the dis- 
tillation of turpentine, which is chiefly used by horsemen 
to cause the horse to urinate more freely. Much mischief 
is often done to horses by the administration of rosin. In- 
deed, most diseases of the kidneys and of the loins can be 
traced to over-dosing with this substance. The oftener 
rosin is given to the horse, the more he appears in the eyes 
of the driver to stand in need of his favorite dose. The 
kidneys become over-worked, the desire to urinate is more 
frequent, less urine is voided each time, and the poor man 
does not see the mischief he has already done, but hastens 
to give the horse more to remedy the urinary defect he has 
thus been instrumental in producing. It will be well to re- 
member that powerful diuretics, like powerful purgatives, 
tend only to weaken and debilitate. If there be a urinary 
defect, find out the cause, and, if possible, have it removed, 
and the effect will cease, " sub lata causa, tollitur effeetus," 
but do not attempt to do so by force, and against all science 
and common sense. Other preparations of turpentine have 
already been noticed. (See Tar.) 

Urse Ursi. — The leaves of the whortleberry. They 
were once in repute in diseases of the horse, but are now 
fallen, and others have taken their place. They were 
used chiefly in diseases of the bladder and kidney. 

Valerian. — Valeriana Officinalis. However useful 
valerian may be in nervous irritation in man, it is not so 
useful in veterinary patients. Camphor, and the gum 



398 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

resins, or asafcetida, answer our purpose better than 
valerian. 

Valerianate of Soda. — This has been found useful in 
chorea, or twitching of the muscles in the dog, in doses of 
from one to two grains. 

(1.) Valerianate of Iron. — A good tonic for the dog. 

(2.) Valerianate of Quinine. — An excellent remedy 
for agues in man. 

Veratrum. — White Hellebore. If we had not so useful 
a sedative medicine as we have in aconite, I would cer- 
tainly recommend the tincture of white hellebore-root, in 
all diseases for which aconite is recommended. On account 
of its being more dangerous than aconite, in case of over- 
dose, I will not say much more about it, as wherever 
white hellebore is found in the country stores, aconite will 
be there also. Hence, there can be no good reason for 
recommending it when aconite can be procured. 

Veratria. — The alkaloid of white hellebore, and is one 
of the most destructive of the deadly poisons. Nothing 
could be more so than this preparation of hellebore; and 
what is more, at present, no test is known whereby to 
detect its presence within the stomach or system. 

Wax. — This substance is used for giving hardness and 
consistency to ointments, and is a favorite with me in the 
form of shoemaker's wax, for the purpose of filling up 
cracks and holes in the feet of horses, to keep out sand and 
dirt. To be applied as follows: Make the wax in the 
form of a stick, so that it can be held by one end, while 
you hold a hot iron to the other, and hold it over the hole 
or crack, so that the warm wax will drop into it. When 
the part is full, wet the finger, and by this means the wax 



zinc. 399 

can be smoothed, so that ordinary observers can scarcely 
observe a deficiency in the foot. The hole or crack must 
be perfectly dry, and free from moisture, or else the wax 
will not stick very long. When dry, and the wax is put 
properly in, it will last for a month, or till the next shoeing 
time. 

Willow Bark. — A much neglected, valuable and cheap 
medicine. This bark has within it a crystalline substance 
called salieine, which is an excellent substitute for the 
expensive quinine. Farmers and others will do well to 
gather it in sufficient quantity, and have it dried; and in 
the spring of the year, or when any of the horses are weak, 
or out of sorts, take of the willow bark one pound, and 
boil in four quarts of water, till two quarts are left; then 
strain for use, and give a tumblerful, mixed in cut feed, 
once or twice in the day. This will be found much better 
than the black snakeroot already spoken of under its 
proper head. 

Yeast. — Brewer's yeast is one of the best applications 
for an unhealthy sore or ulcer, as it immediately changes 
its look and smell. A mixture of yeast and charcoal is a 
domestic remedy not to be overlooked in the treatment of 
sores, especially in the summertime. The yeast and the 
charcoal are to be mixed in the form of a poultice, and 
used as such, occasionally changing it so that full benefit 
may be given to the sore by its use. After the sore is 
cleansed and corrected, it may be then healed as a simple, 
healthy sore, by other remedies amply described through 
the book. 

Zinc. — There are several preparations of zinc, which are 
used in the treatment of horse and cattle diseases, but 
chiefly in the form of external applications. 



400 HORSE AND CATTLE MEDICINES. 

(1.) Oxide of Zinc. — This is a white powder, like 
wheat-flour, and is useful when applied as a powder in 
greasy heels and other sores which discharge a sanious 
fluid from them. Oxide of zinc is often used in the form 
of an ointment mixed with lard. An excellent ointment 
is also made by soap shaved down, moistened with a little 
water, and having oxide of zinc added to it. This is a 
good form for greasy heels and scratches on horses that 
have to work every day. It keeps down irritation and 
fever, prevents swelling of the legs, and is easily washed 
off on the horse coming into the stable foi the night. 

(2.) Carbonate of Zinc. — This is used under the old 
name of calamine, either in the form of a powder or an 
ointment. The ointment is made by adding four parts of 
lard to one of calamine. It is good for healing sores. 

(3.) Sulphate of Zinc. — This preparation of zinc has 
already been described under the head of sulphate of zinc, 
(which see.) 

(4.) Chloride of Zinc. — Butter of Zinc. This, as 
well as the other forms of zinc, is not used as an internal 
medicine, except the sulphate, which is occasionally given 
to the dog as an emetic. 

Chloride of zinc is a powerful disinfectant and deodor- 
izer, and is used in the healing of wounds and sores. 
The solution is the usual form of using it. Two grains of 
the chloride of zinc to an ounce of rain-water, makes a 
good eye-wash. For ordinary sores, four to five grains of 
the zinc to one ounce of rain-water, is a good application. 
One characteristic of the preparations of zinc when applied 
to sores is, no proud flesh can or will arise during their 
use. The chloride of zinc is used by some veterinarians 
as a caustic, but for this purpose better caustics, and cheaper 
ones, will be found elsewhere described. 



CERATES. 401 

(5.) Acetate of Zinc. This is made by dissolving 
oxide or carbonate of zinc in acetic acid. The chief use 
of the acetate of zinc is for the healing of wounds. In 
European stables it is employed for the purpose of wetting 
bandages applied to old hunters and other horses, whose 
legs cannot be otherwise kept fine and free from swelling. 
The bandages usually employed in such cases are made of 
wash-leather, which is so extensively used for drying 
carriages after being washed, and is called chamois leather. 

Zingiberis. — (See Ginger.) 

Zyloidine. — This is a white substance, which is in- 
soluble, and is obtained from starch, concentrated nitric 
acid, and cold water. 



PRESCRIPTIONS AND PREPARATIONS. 

Cerates. — Used for dressing sores and ulcers. 

(1.) Simple Cerate. — Take yellow or white wax, 
three ounces ; olive oil, two ounces ; melt them on a slow 
fire. 

(2.) Turner's Cerate. — Take of simple cerate, five 
ounces ; prepared calamine, one ounce ; mix, and stir till 
cold. 

(3.) Cerate of Zinc. — Take simple cerate, six ounces; 
melt, and add oxide of zinc, one ounce, and stir till cold. 

(4.) Resin Cerate. — Yellow Basilicon. Take yellow 
rosin and yellow wax, of each half a pound, then add eight 
ounces of olive oil or lard, melt together over a slow fire, 
and strain through flannel cloth while hot. This is an old, 
but excellent application for sores, scalds, burns, etc. 



402 PRESCRIPTIONS AND PREPARATIONS. 

Clysters. — For colic of all kinds, take warm water of 
about blood heat, one stable bucket full ; four ounces of 
common table salt, soap sufficient to make a good lather 
or froth ; of this, three to four quarts may be injected in 
the rectum, every half hour till the animal is well. For 
the expulsion of the fundament bots, injections of flaxseed 
oil are an excellent and safe method. Tobacco smoke 
injections are sometimes used for their removal, as well as 
in cases of constipation. To give injections of tobacco 
smoke, an instrument having both force and suction is 
necessary. Tobacco smoke is not recommended for either 
of these affections by the author. 

Drenches. — Used in cases of colic: Take sulphuric 
ether, half an ounce; laudanum, two ounces; flaxseed oil, 
one pint ; mix. Or, take spirits of turpentine, one ounce ; 
tincture of aconite root, twenty-five drops ; aloes, one ounce 
in solution ; mix. Or, take warm ale, two pints ; ground 
ginger, half an ounce ; tincture of aconite root, twenty 
drops; mix. Used in flatulent colic, accompanied with 
swelling of the belly : Take laudanum, two ounces ; aloes 
in solution, one ounce; chloride of lime, half an ounce ; 
mix. Or, take tincture of aconite root, twenty drops ; aloes 
in solution, one ounce; sulphite of soda, one ounce ; mix. 
Or, take spirits of hartshorn, three drachms ; aloes in solu- 
tion, one ounce; water, one pint; mix. 

Eye Lotions and Washes.— Astringent Eye 

Lotion. — Take sulphate of zinc, five grains; rain-water, 
one ounce ; mix. 

Lotion for Purulent Discharges from the Eye. 
— Take sulphate of copper, three grains; laudanum, ten 
drops; rain-water, one ounce ; mix. 

For the Same. Nitrate of silver, four grains ; rain- 



LINIMENTS OR EMBROCATIONS. 403 

water, one ounce ; mix, and apply with a camel's hair 
pencil once in the day. 

Soothing Eye-wash. — Take extract of belladonna,, 
half a drachm ; rain-water or distilled water, six ounces 
dissolve and strain. This is to be used warm, as a fomen 
tation to the eye. 

Mild Astringent Eye-water. — Alum, four grains 
rain-water, one ounce; mix. 

Sedative Eye-wash. — Take sulphate of atropine 
three grains ; rain or distilled water, one ounce ; mix 
and strain. The reader of this book will remember that 
belladonna, or atropine, when applied to the eye, will cause 
the pupil of the eye to dilate. 

Eye Salves. — Nitrate of Silver Ointment. — 
Take nitrate of silver, twelve grains; dissolve in as many 
drops of water; simple cerate, one ounce; mix. 

Precipitate Ointment. — Take red precipitate of 
mercury, three grains; pure lard, two drachms ; mix, and 
use when the eyelids are red and oozing. 

Freezing Mixtures. — Take sal ammoniac, five parts; 
nitre, five parts ; cold water, sixteen parts ; mix. Or, take 
sal ammoniac, and nitre, of each five parts ; Glauber's salts, 
eight parts ; cold water, sixteen parts ; mix. The article 
to be cooled should be placed in a tin vessel, which should 
be put in the mixture just as a butter kettle would be 
placed in ice water. By throwing a handful of sal ammo- 
niac, or coarse salt or nitre, upon ice or snow, a low degree 
of cold will be produced, sufficient for all purposes. 
Freezing mixtures are of much benefit applied to sprains, 
when ice cannot be had. 

Liniments or Embrocations. — These are for exter- 



404 PRESCRIPTIONS AND PREPARATIONS. 

nal applications, and are used in the cure of sprains, bruises, 
chronic swellings, etc. 

Liniment of Camphor. — Take camphor, one ounce ; 
olive or sweet oil, three ounces; mix. 

Liniment of Ammonia. — Take solution of ammonia, 
two ounces; sweet oil, six ounes , mix. 

Liniment of Aconite. — Take tincture of aconite root, 
two ounces; olive or sweet oil, four ounces; creosote, one 
ounce; mix. This is one of the most valuable embroca- 
tions which can be applied to a painful bruise, or sprain 
of whatever kind. It allays and removes inflammation, 
irritation and pain. 

Liniment of Lead. — Take soap, (castile,) five ounces; 
camphor, one drachm ; Goulard's extract of lead, half an 
ounce ; boiling water, one pint. Cut the soap into thin 
pieces, and the camphor in fine powder, and stir them into 
the Goulard's extract, then pour in the boiling water. 

Soap Liniment. — Opodeldoc. Take castile, or even 
white soap, three ounces; oil of rosemary, two drachms; 
oil of thyme, one drachm ; camphor, one ounce; spirits of 
wine, one pint. The camphor is to be in fine powder, 
and the soap in fine shavings. The camphor, oils and 
soap are to be dissolved in the spirits of wine. Place the 
vessels holding these articles by the fire till the soap is 
dissolved. It should be kept in wide-mouthed bottles, of 
from four to six ounces' capacity. 

Observe. — The oils of rosemary and thyme, entering into 
the mixture, are not so much for their medical virtues as 
for the fine smell. In horse and cattle practice, these 
oils can be dispensed with ; or, add the same quantity of 
olive oil. 

Soap Liniment. — Common. This may be used instead 
of the opodeldoc. Take soap in shavings, four ounces; 



OINTMENTS. 405 

camphor, in powder, one ounce; spirits of wine, one pint; 
laudanum, half an ounce; and dissolve. This is a cheap 
and useful liniment for sprains and bruises. 

Turpentine Liniment. — Take spirits, or oil of tur- 
pentine, two ounces; olive oil, two ounces; mix. 

Lime Liniment. — Take equal parts of lime-water and 
linseed oil, and shake them well together till a white, thick, 
creamy, or saponaceous compound is made. This is used 
in cases of burns and scalds, whether in man or beast. 
Spread some of the liniment on a soft cotton cloth, lay it 
on the burned part, and when dry renew again. 

Carbolic Acid Liniment. — Carbolic acid, one drachm; 
olive oil, eight ounces ; mix. Or, water alone may be 
used for ordinary sores instead of the oil ; but for scratches, 
the same quantity of glycerine will answer a better 
purpose. 

Creosote Liniment. — Take creosote, one ounce ; oil of 
turpentine, one ounce ; olive oil, two ounces ; mix. This 
is a favorite liniment for sprains, bruises, and sores, and 
gives relief from pain when rubbed upon the sprained 
hock-joint and stiff* joints generally. 

Ointments. — Blistering Ointment.— Take of Span- 
ish fly, in powder, one drachm ; hog's lard, six drachms; 
mix. This is the ordinary blistering ointment. The old 
formula is, one of Spanish fly to four of lard. The weaker 
ointment answers the better purpose. 

Red Iodide Ointment. — Take of bin-iodide of mer- 
cury, one drachm ; hog's lard, one ounce ; mix. This is 
the most useful ointment the veterinary surgeon can 
employ, or possess, for the cure of splints, ring-bones, 
spavins, indurated or hardened tumors, and the reduction 
of enlargements of the glands of the neck. Iodide ointment 



406 PRESCRIPTIONS AND PREPARATIONS. 

should only be used once in five days, or till the effects of 
the previous application have subsided a good deal. This 
precaution is necessary to prevent a blemish being made by 
the hair falling off and not growing again, which should 
always be avoided. 

Green Ointment. — Take of simple cerate or ointment, 
one ounce; add one drachm of verdigris (diacetate of 
copper), and mix. This ointment will heal sores when 
other applications have failed. 

Sulphur Ointment. — Take of iodide of sulphur, one 
drachm ; hog's lard, one ounce; mix. Used in mange and 
skin diseases. 

Zinc Ointment. — Take carbonate of zinc, one drachm ; 
hog's lard, one ounce ; mix. A good healing ointment. 

Liver of Sulphur Ointment. — Take of liver of sul- 
phur, one drachm; hog's lard, one ounce; mix. Used in 
mange and other skin diseases. A more cleanly and easily 
managed form, performing all its actions, is one part of the 
liver of sulphur to eight parts of water. 

French Hoof Ointment. — Take of olive oil, wax, 
lard, honey and white turpentine, equal parts; dissolve, or 
digest over a slow fire. For black hoofs, a little ivory- 
black stirred in while hot, will give it sufficient color. For 
blue feet, add sufficient Prussian blue or indigo, along with 
the ivory-black till a blue tint is given to the ointment. 

Common Hoof Ointment. — The hoof ointment sold 
for such, is composed of Venice turpentine-wax, and suet 
in quantities sufficient to give consistence or thickness to 
the mass. Oil of tar and oil of olives, or some of the 
fish oils, equal parts, and sufficient lamp or ivory -black 
stirred in to give thickness to the whole, is probably 
the best ointment which cau be used for the hoof of the 
horse. 



PLASTEES. 407 

Plasters. — Plasters are not often called for in horse 
and cattle diseases, but some cases arise which require a 
plaster over the back or loins, such as chronic sprains, 
lumbago, etc. Take Burgundy pitch, four parts; wax, 
one part; camphor, half drachm; Spanish fly, half a 
drachm ; melt over a slow fire, spread on soft leather, and 
lay over the loins while warm. This will be sufficient for 
all purposes where a plaster is indicated. Plasters should 
be worn six weeks, so that the horse will reap some benefit 
from them. 

Poultices. — Caeeot Poultice. — Take of washed 
carrots, boil till soft, strain off the water, and bruise the 
carrots into a fine pulp or mass ; spread upon strong cloth. 
Used for sores of an unhealthy kind. 

Linseed Meal Poultice. — Take of boiling water one 
quart, stir in sufficient linseed meal with a wooden stick 
or spoon, and beat it well so as to have no lumps. To be 
spread on strong cloth or canvas, and applied. 

Yeast and Charcoal Poultice. — Take yeast, one 
pint, and powdered charcoal sufficient to give consistence 
to the whole when well stirred in. This is a valuable 
poultice, and is not as well known as it ought to be. 
Used in sores discharging a stinking matter, which it soon 
arrests. 

Spirits. — Proof Spirits. — Take rectified spirits of 
wine, three parts by measure; water, two parts by meas- 
ure; mix. This is the proper strength for making 
tinctures. Keep the rectified spirits by itself till wanted, 
the water can be added when needed. 

Spirits of Camphor. — Take of camphor, two and a 
half ounces; rectified spirits, one pint; dissolve. Used 
for sprains, bruises and sores. 



408 PRESCRIPTIONS AND PREPARATIONS. 

Tinctures. — Tincture of Arnica. — Take arnica 
flowers, four ounces; alcohol one quart; macerate, or 
steep for one week, and strain. 

Tincture of Aconite Root.- -Take of the dried and 
bruised root, four ounces ; alcohol, half a pint; macerate 
for two weeks, and strain. This medicine no farmer can 
very well do without. Those who do without it, do not 
know its actual value. Twenty drops of the tincture of 
aconite root, under certain circumstances, is as valuable as 
the animal which may stand in need of its great curative 
virtues. Measured by its power in curing disease, its 
weight in gold is not its value. 

Compound Tincture of Benzoin. — Commonly called 
Friar's Balsam. Take of gum benzoin, one and a half 
ounces ; storax, one ounce ; balsam of tolu, half an ounce ; 
aloes, in powder, two drachms ; alcohol, one pint ; macerate 
for one week, and strain or filter. Used for healing sores. 

Tincture of Aloes and Myrrh. — Take aloes, in 
powder, one ounce; saffron, half an ounce; tincture of 
myrrh, half a pint; macerate for two weeks, and strain. 
Used for healing sores and wounds. 

Tincture of Iodine. — Take of iodine, half an ounce; 
iodide of potassium, one ounce ; alcohol, one pint ; macerate 
for a day or so, and it is fit for use. Used as an injection 
for abcesses and empty cavities. It is also used by some 
for enlargements, in the same way as it is used for erysipe- 
las in man, by painting the affected part. 

Waters. — Lime-water. — Take a lump of lime or 
limestone, of about a pound weight, lay it on a soup plate 
and wet it with water, which will soon convert the hard 
stone into a fine powder. Then put it into a stone jar 
holding a gallon or upwards, fill in one gallon of water, 



MEDICINES. 409 

and cork it closely. It is now ready for use when wanted. 
The same lime may be used repeatedly, by pouring fresh 
water, as the other is taken out. This water is what the 
lime liniment is partly composed of. 

Tar- water. — (Bishop Berkeley's Receipt.) Pour a 
gallon ol x>id water on a quart of liquid tar; stir, mix 
and work them together thoroughly, with a wooden ladle, 
or flat stick, for five or six minutes. Then let the vessel 
stand, closely covered, for three days and nights. Care- 
fully skim the surface, without moving the vessel, pour 
off the clear solution, and keep it in bottles well corked 
for use. This is a useful medicine for man and horse in 
chest diseases, and it would be well worthy of a trial in 
chronic cough in the horse. 



MEDICINES TO BE KEPT ON HAND. 

The following medicines should be kept in every farm- 
house, where there are horses and cows. If the farmer 
should not think it of sufficient importance, he should at 
least ascertain what is kept in the village, or country store, 
so that he may know exactly where to get what he may at 
any moment stand in need of, for his horse or cow, in case 
of accident or sickness. Medicines should be kept in 
bottles; some in wide, and others in narrow-mouthed ones. 
A plain label snould be affixed to every bottle, and on 
those known to be poisonous, a dark-colored label should 
be used, and marked Poison. This will often prevent 
mistakes and accident. 



410 USEFUL MEDICINES. 

Tincture of Aconite Root. — One ounce. 

Red Iodide of Mercury. — One drachm. 

Tincture of Nux Vomica. — One ounce. 

Spirits of Turpentine. — Two ounces. 

Epsom Salts. — Two pounds. 

Simple Cerate, or Ointment. — Two ounces. 

Linseed Oil.— One quart. 

Aloes. — One ounce. 

Carbonate of Ammonia. — One pound. 

Gentian Root. — Haifa pound. 

Sulphur. — Haifa pound. 

Olive Oil. — Half a pint. 

Chalk. — Two pounds. 

Powdered Opium. — One ounce. 

Ginger. — One pound. 

Fenugreek. — One pound. 

Sulphate of Iron. — Half a pound. 

Caustic Potash. — Six sticks. 

Glycerine. — Haifa pound. 

Lime-water. 

Tannin. — One ounce. 

Catechu. — One ounce. 

Sulphuric Ether. — Two ounces. 

Blue Stone. — Two ounces. 

Oxide of Zinc. — Four ounces. 

Sulphuric Acid.- — One pound. 

Spirits of Salt. — One pound. 

Sulphite of Soda. — One pound. 

Spanish Fly. — Half an ounce. 

Carbolic Acid, (in crystals.) — One ounce. 

Creosote. — Half an ounce. 

Alcohol. — One pint. 

Cotton, or Tow. — One pound. 



MEDICINES. 411 

Laudanum. — Two ounces. 
Nitrate of Silver. — Two sticks. 
Chloride of Lime. — A few pounds. 
Powdered Charcoal. — A few pounds. 
Black Oxide of Manganese. — Three ounces., 
Roll Sulphur. — Half a pound. 
Liver of Sulphur. — Three ounces. 



TABLE OF DOSES ACCORDING TO AGE. 

If the dose is for a full grown animal, of whatever kind, 
let it be one ounce. 

A colt of one year will require one-third of an ounce. 

A two year old will require one-half of an ounce. 

A three year old will require three-fourths of an ounce. 

The same proportion may be observed in cattle, from 
one year old and upwards. But a calf, a week or two old, 
will require another division of dose, still following the 
same rule. The dose for a one year old is one-third of the 
dose of an adult, or full grown ox. Then a dose for a 
calf of four weeks will be one-twelfth of that given to a 
one year old, and a two months' old calf or colt, will 
require one-sixth of that of a one year old animal. For a 
one week old animal, the dose will be one-fourth of that 
of the animal aged four weeks. The rule and the dose are 
merely approximate, but it is the best and only plan 
we can offer, as a rule or guide for a posologieal table. 
Some persons have advocated a decrease in the dose for old 
animals. This I cannot favor, as but few horses live to be 
so old that a full dose of medicine would be an injury to 



412 MEDICINES. 

them. The great trouble with aged horses, is not from & 
failure of the constitution and the general system, but from 
defects in the teeth, whereby in winter, th y are nearly 
starved, because of inability to masticate what they eat. 
If their food could be prepared, as is done for old men, their 
lives and usefulness would be pr longed; then it would 
be time enough to think of diminishing the dose for old 
horses. 



ARTICLES NECESSARY FOR MEASURING, 
WEIGHING, ETC. 

One pair of scales and weights capable of weighing from 
one grain to one ounce. 

Two glass measures, one measuring from five drops to 
sixty — the other from one drachm to six ounces. 

One Wedgewood mortar, with pestle to match. 

One tile for making ointment upon. 

Two spatulas, or round-edged knives, for mixing and 
dividing powders, and mixing ointments. 

A few small bottles with corks, to hold from one to 
eight ounces. 

A few labels for pasting on the bottles, with directions 
for the use of the medicines. 

A few labels with the word " poison." 

A few sponges. 

One ox's horn cut sloping at the wide end for drenching 
horses or cattle, which is better than a bottle. A bottle 
made of block tin, in the shape of a champagne bottle, is 
a good article for drenching with. 



DISEASES OF POULTRY. 



Asthma. — This common disease appears to be causea 
by an obstruction of the air cells, from an undue accu- 
mulation of phlegm. 

Symptoms. — The fowl labors for breath, in conse- 
quence of not being able to take in the usual quantity 
of air at an inspiration. The capacity of the lungs is 
thereby diminished, the lining membrane of the wind- 
pipe becomes thickened, and its minute branches are 
more or less affected. Another variety of asthma is 
induced by fright, or undue excitement. It is some- 
times produced by chasing the fowls to catch them, by 
seizing them suddenly, or by their fighting with each 
other. In these cases, a blood vessel is often ruptured, 
and sometimes one or more of the air cells. The symp- 
toms are, short breathing, opening of the beak often, 
and for quite a time ; heaving and panting of the chest ; 
and, in case of a rupture of a bloodvessel, a drop of 
blood appearing on the beak. 

Treatment. — Confirmed asthma is difficult to cure. 
For the disease in its incipient state, the fowl should be 
kept warm, and treated with repeated doses of hippo- 
powder and sulphur, mixed with butter, with the addi- 
tion of a small quantity of Cayenne pepper. 

Costiveness. — The existence of this disorder will 
become apparent by observing the unsuccessful attempts 
of the fowl to relieve itself. It frequently results from 
continued feeding on drv diet, without aceese to 

(41$) 



414 DISEASES OF POULTRY. 

vegetables. Indeed, without the use of these, or some 
substitute — such as mashed potatoes — costiveuess is 
certain to ensue. The want of a sufficient supply of 
good w T ater will also occasion the disease, on account of 
that peculiar structure of the fowl, which renders them 
inable to void their urine, except in connection with 
Aiefceces of solid food, and through the same channel. 
Treatment. — Soaked bread, with warm skimmed-milk, 
is a mild remedial agent, and will usually suffice. 
Boiled carrots or cabbage are more efficient. A meal 
of earth-worms is sometimes advisable ; and hot pota- 
toes, mixed with bacon-fat, are said to be excellent- 
Castor-oil and burned butter will remove the most 
obstinate cases; though a clyster (injection) of oil, in 
addition, may sometimes be required to effect a cure. 

Diarrhoea. — Symptoms. — Lassitude and emaciation ; 
and, in very severe cases, the voiding of calcareous 
matter, white streaked with yellow. This resembles 
the yolk of a stale egg, and clings to the feathers near 
the vent. It becomes acrid, from the presence of 
ammonia, and causes inflammation, which speedily 
extends throughout the intestines. 

Treatment. — If the disease is brought on by a diet of 
green or soft food, the food must be changed, and water 
sparingly given; if it arises from undue acidity, chalk 
mixed with meal is advantageous, but rice-flour boluses 
are most reliable. Alum-water of moderate strength is 
also beneficial. In cases of bloody flux, boiled rice and 
milk, given warm, with a little magnesia or chalk, may 
be successfully used. 

Fever. — The most decided species of fever to which 
fowls are subject occurs at the period of hatching. A 



INDIGESTION. 415 

state of fever ma} 7 also be observed when they are about 
to lay. Fighting also frequently occasions fever, which 
sometimes proves fatal. 

Symptoms. — An increased circulation of the blood; 
excessive heat, and restlessness. 

Treatment. — Light food and change of air ; and if 
necessary, aperient medicine, such as castor oil, with a 
little burned butter. 

Indigestion. — Symptoms. — Heaviness, moping, keep- 
ing away from the nest, and want of appetite. 

Treatment. — Lessen the quantity of food, and oblige 
the fowl to exercise in an open walk. Give some pow- 
dered Cayenne and gentian, mixed with the usual food. 
Iron-rust, mixed with soft food, or diffused in water, is 
an excellent tonic, and is indicated when there is 
atrophy, or diminution of the flesh. It may be com- 
bined with oats or grain. Milk-warm ale has a good 
effect, when added to the diet of diseased fowls. 

Lice. — Treatment. — Whitewash frequently all the 
parts adjacent to the roosting-pole, take the poles dc^ 7 « 
and run them slowly through a fire made of wood 
shavings, dry weeds, or other light waste combustibles. 
Flour of sulphur, placed in a vessel, and set on fire in 
a close poultry-house, will penetrate every crevice and 
effectually exterminate the ve'rmin. When a hen 
comes off with her brood, the old nest should be cleaned 
out, and a new one placed ; and dry tobacco-leaves, 
rubbed to a powder between the hands, and mixed with 
the hay of the nest, will add much to the health of the 
poultry. 

Flour of sulphur may also be mixed with Indian- 
meal and water, and fed in the proportion of one pound 



416 DISEASES OF POULTRY. 

of sulphur to two dozen fowls, in two parcels, two days 
apart. Almost any kind of grease, or unctuous matter, 
is also certain death to the vermin of domestic poultry. 
In the case of very young chickens, it should only he 
used on a warm, sunny day, when they should be put 
into a coop with their mother, the coop darkened for 
an hour or two, and everything made quiet, that they 
may secure a good rest and nap after the fatigue occa- 
sioned by greasing them. They should be handled 
with great care, and greased thoroughly ; the hen, also. 
After resting, they may be permitted to come out and 
bask in the sun; and in a few days they will look 
sprightly enough. 

To guard against vermin, however, it should not be 
forgotten that cleanliness is of vital importance ; and 
there must always be plent}' of slacked lime, dry ashes, 
and sand, easy of access to the fowls, in which they can 
roll and dust themselves. 

Loss of Feathers. — This disease, common to con- 
fined fowls, should not be confounded with the natural 
process of moulting. In this diseased state, no new 
feathers come to replace the old, but the fowl is left 
bald and naked ; a sort of roughness also appears on 
the skin ; there is a falling off in appetite, as well as 
moping and inactivity. 

Treatment. — As this affection is, in all probability, 
constitutional rather than local, external remedies may 
not always prove sufficient. Stimulants, however, ap- 
plied externally, will serve to assist the operation of 
whatever medicine may be given. Sulphur may be 
thus applied, mixed with lard. Sulphur and Cayenne, 
in the proportion of one quarter each, mixed with fresh 



pip. 417 

butter, is good to be given internally, and will act as a 
powerful alterative. The diet should be changed ; and 
cleanliness and fresh air are indispensable. 

In diseased moulting, where the feathers stare and fall 
off till the naked skin appears, sugar should be added 
to the water which the fowls drink, and corn and hemp- 
seed be given. The fowls should be kept warm, and 
occasionally be treated to doses of Cayenne pepper. 

Pip. — This disorder, known also as the gapes, is by 
the best authorities said to be occasioned by the presence 
of worms in the windpipe. 

Symptoms. — A thickened state of the membrane of 
the tongue, particularly toward the tip; the breathing 
is impeded, and the beak is frequently held open, as if 
the creature were gasping for breath ; the beak becomes 
yellow at its base ; and the feathers on the head appear 
ruffled and disordered ; the tongue is very dry ; the 
appetite is not always impaired, and yet the fowl can- 
not eat, probably on account of the difficulty which the 
act involves, and sits in a corner pining in solitude. 

Treatment, — Most people recommend the immediate 
removal of the thickened membrane, which can be 
effected by anointing the part with butter or fresh 
cream. If necessary, the scab ma}'' be pricked with a 
needle. It will also be found beneficial to use a pill 
composed of equal parts of scraped garlic and horse- 
radish, with as much Cayenne pepper as will outweigh 
a grain of wheat; to be mixed with fresh butter, and 
given every morning ; the fowl to be kept warm. 

If the disease is in an advanced state, shown by the 
chicken's holding up its head and gasping for want of 
breath, the fowl should be thrown on its back, and 
while the neck is held straight, the bill should be 



-*- 



418 DISEASES OF POULTRY. 

opened and a quill inserted into the windpipe, with a 
little turpentine. This, being round, will loosen and 
destroy a number of small red worms, some of which 
will be drawn up by the feather, and others will be 
coughed up by the chicken. The operation should be 
repeated the following day, if the gaping continues. If 
it ceases the cure is effected. 

It is stated, also, that the disease has been entirely 
prevented by mixing a small quantity of spirits of 
turpentine with the food of fowls ; from five to ten 
drops to a pint of meal, to be made into a dough. An- 
other specific recommended is to keep iron standing in 
vinegar, and put a little of the liquid in the food every 
few days. 

Roup. — This disease is caused mainly by cold and 
moisture ; but it is often ascribed to improper feeding 
and want of cleanliness and exercise. 

Symptoms. — Difficult and noisy breathing and gap- 
ing, terminating in a rattling in the throat; the 
bead swells, and is feverish ; the eyes are swollen and 
the eye-lids appear livid ; the sight decays, and some- 
times total blindness ensues ; there are discharges from 
the nostrils and mouth, at first thin and limpid, after- 
ward thick, purulent, and fetid. In this stage, which 
resembles the glanders in horses, the disease becomes 
infectious ; the appetite fails, except for drink ; the crop 
feels hard ; the feathers are staring, ruffled, and without 
the gloss that appears in health ; the fowl mopes by 
itself and seems to suffer much pain. 

Treatment. — The fowls should be kept warm and have 
plenty of water and scalded bran, or other light food. 
When chronic, change of food and air is advisable. 
The ordinary remedies — bucAl a* salt disiolved in water 



* 



WOUNDS AND SORES. 419 

—are inefficacious. A solution of sulphate of zinc, as 
an eye- water, is a valuable cleansing application. Rue- 
pills, and a decoction of rue as a tonic, have been 
administered with apparent benefit. 
The following is recommended : 

Powdered Gentian Root 1 part. 

Jamaica Ginger , . 1 part. 

Epsom Salts . 1 J parts. 

Flour of Sulphur 1 part. 

To be made up with butter, and given every morning. 
Or, treat as follows : 

As soon as discovered, if in warm weather, remove 
the affected fowls to some well ventilated apartment, or 
yard ; if in winter, to some warm place; then give a 
dessert-spoonful of castor-oil, wash their heads with 
warm Castile soap suds, and let them remain till next 
morning, fasting. Scald for them Indian-meal, adding 
two and a half ounces of Epsom salts for ten hens, or 
in proportion for a less or larger number ; give it warm, 
and repeat the dose in a day or two, if they do not 
recover. 

Another treatment : Take of finely pulverized, fresh- 
burnt charcoal, and of new yeast, each three parts; of 
pulverized sulphur, two parts ; of flour, one part ; of 
water, a sufficient quantity; mix well, and make into 
two doses, of the size of a hazle-nut, and give one three 
times a day. Cleanliness is no less necessary than 
warmth; and it will sometimes be desirable to bathe 
the eyes and nostrils with warm milk and water, or 
suds, as convenient. 

Wounds and Sores. — Cleanliness is the first step 
toward a cure. The wound should be cleaned of all 
foreign matter, washed with tepid milk and water, and 



420 DISEASES OF POULTRY. 

excluded as far as possible from the air. The fowl 
should be removed from its companions, which, in such 
cases, seldom or never show any sympathy, but, on the 
contrary, are always ready to assault the invalid, and 
aggravate the injury. Should the wound not readily 
heal, but ulcerate, it may be bathed with alum water. 
The ointment of creosote is said to be effectual, even 
when the ulcers exhibits a fungous character, or proud 
flesh is present. Ulcers may also be kept clean, if 
dressed with a little lard, or washed with a weak solu- 
tion of sugar of lead. If they are indolent, they may 
be touched with blue-stone. When severe fractures 
occur to the limbs of fowls, the best course, undoubtedly, 
to pursue — unless they are very valuable — is to kill 
them at once, as an act of humanity. When, however, 
it is deemed worth while to preserve them, splints may 
be used, when practicable. Great cleanliness must be 
observed ; the diet should be reduced ; and every pre- 
caution taken against the inflammation which is sure 
to supervene. When it is established, cooling lotions — 
such as wa/m milk and water — may be applied. 



DISEASES OF SWIM. 



By reason of being generally considered a subordi- 
nate species of stock, swine do not, in many cases, share 
in the benefits which an improved system of agriculture 
and the present advanced state of veterinary science 
have conferred upon other domestic animals. Since 
they are by no means the most tractable of patients, it 
is anything but an easy matter to compel them to 
swallow anything to which their appetite does not incite 
them ; therefore, prevention will be found better than 
cure. Cleanliness is the great point to be insisted upon 
in the management of these animals. If this and 
warmth be only attended to, ailments among them are 
comparatively rare. 

Catching a Pig. — The following method of catching 
a pig has been recommended : Fasten a double cord to 
the end of a stick, and beneath the stick let there be a 
running noose ; tie a piece of bread to the cord, and 
present it to the animal ; and when he opens his mouth 
to seize the bait, catch the upper jaw in the noose, run 
it tight, and the animal is fast. Another method is to 
catch one foot in a running noose suspended from some 
placp, so as to draw the imprisoned foot off the ground ; 
or, to envelop the head of the animal in a cloth or sack. 

Drenching. — Whenever it is possible, the medicine 
to be administered should be mingled with a portion 
of food, and the animal thus cheated or coaxed into 

(421) 



422 DISEASES OP SWINE. 

taking it ; since many instances are on record in which 
the pig has ruptured some vessel in his struggles, and 
died on the spot, or so injured himself as to bring on 
inflammation and subsequent death. Where this can 
not be done, let a man get the head of the animal firmly 
between his knees — without, however, pinching it — 
while another secures the hinder parts. Then let the 
first take hold of the head from below, raise it a little, 
and incline it slightly toward the right, at the same 
time separating the lips on the left side so as to form a 
hole into which the fluid may be gradually poured — 
no more being introduced into the mouth at a time 
than can be swallowed at once. Should the animal 
snort or choke, the head must be released for a few 
moments, or he will be in danger of being strangled. 

Catarrh. — This ailment, an inflammation of the 
mucous membranes of the nose, etc., caused by exposure 
to draughts, is, if taken in time, easily cured by opening 
medicines, followed by warm bran-wash ; a warm, dry 
sty, and abstinence from rich grains or stimulating 
farinaceous diet. 

Cholera. — Symptoms. — The animal appears to be 
instantaneously deprived of energy; loss of appetite; 
lying down by himself, occasionally moving about 
slowly, as though experiencing some slight uneasiness 
internally ; the eyes have a very dull and sunken ap- 
pearance, which increases with the disease ; the evacu- 
ations are almost continuous, of a dark color, having a 
fetid odor, and containing a large quantity of bile; the 
extremities are cold, and soreness is evinced when the 
abdomen is pressed; the pulse is quickened, and some- 
times hardly perceptible, while the buccal membrane—- 



DIARRHCEA. 423 

that belonging to the cheek — presents a slight purple 
hue ; the tongue has a furred appearance. The evacu- 
ations continue fluid until the animal expires, which 
may be in twelve hours from the first attack, or the 
disease may run on for several days. 

Treatment. — As a preventative, the following will be 
found valuable : 

Flour of Sulphur 6 ft). 

Animal Charcoal - 1 ft). 

Sulphate of Iron 6 oz. 

Cinchona (pulverized) 1ft). 

Mix well together in a large mortar; afterwards give 
a tablespoonful to each animal, mixed with a few potato 
peelings and corn meal, three times a day. Continue 
this for one week, keeping the animal at the same time 
in a clean, dry place, and not allowing too many to- 
gether. 

Crackings. — These will sometimes appear on the 
skin of a hog, especially about the root of the ears and 
of the tail, and at the flanks. They are not at all to be 
confounded with mange, as they never result from any- 
thing but exposures to the extremes of temperature. 

Treatment. — Anoint the cracked parts twice or three 
times a day with tar and lard, well melted up together. 

Diarrhoea. — When this disease is manifest, ascertain 
at once the quality of food which the animal has recently 
had. 

If taken in its incipient stage, a mere change to a 
more binding diet, as corn, flour, etc., will suffice for a 
cure. If acidity is present — produced, probably, by 
the hog's having fed upon coarse, rank grasses, in 
swampy places — give some chalk in the food, or pow- 



424 DISEASES OP SWINE. 

dered egg-shells, with about half a drachm of powdered 
rhubarb; the dose, of course, should vary with the size 
of the animal. In the acorn season, they alone will be 
found sufficiently curative. Dry lodging is indispens- 
able ; and diligence is requisite to keep it dry and 
clean. 

Fever. — Symptoms. — Redness of the eyes, dryness and 
heat of the nostrils, the lips, and the skin generally ; 
appetite gone, or very defective; and, generally, a very 
violent thirst. 

Treatment. — Bleed as soon as possible ; after which 
house the animal well, taking care, at the same time, 
to have the sty well and thoroughly ventilated. With 
a return of appetite, feed the animal bread steeped in 
broth. 

The fever will ordinarily yield to bleeding, and the 
only object needs to be the support of his strength, by 
small portions of nourishing food, administered fre- 
quently. 

Do not let the animal eat as much as his inclination 
might prompt; when he appears to be no longer 
ravenous, remove the mess, and do not offer it again 
until after a lapse of three or four hours. If the bowels 
are confined, castor and linseed oil, in equal quantities, 
should be added to the bread and broth, in the propor- 
tion of two to six ounces. 

A species of epizootic fever is often caiised by the bad 
sties in which pigs are lodged, and the noisome food 
which they contain. When an animal is attacked he 
should be separated from the others, placed in a warm 
situation, some stimulating ointment applied to the 
chest, and a decoction of sorrel administered. Fric- 
tions of vinegar should also be applied to the dorsal 



FOUL SKIN. 425 

and lumbar region. The drinks should be emollient, 
slightly imbued with nitre and vinegar, and with aro- 
matic fumigation about the belly. If the fever then 
appears to be losing ground, which may be ascertained 
by the regularity of the pulse, by the absence of the 
plaintive cries before heard, by a less laborious respira- 
tion, by the absence of convulsions and by the non- 
appearance of blotches on the skin, there is a fair chance 
of recovery. Then administer every second hour, as 
before directed, and give a proper allowance of white 
water, with ground barley and rye. When the symp- 
toms redouble in intensity, it is best to destroy the 
animal, for it is rare that, after a certain period, much 
chance of recovery exists. Bleeding is seldom of much 
avail, but produces, occasionally, considerable loss of 
vital power, and augments the putrid diathesis. 

Foul Skin. — A simple irritability or foulness of skin 
will usually yield to cleanliness, and a washing with a 
solution of chloride of lime; but, if it is neglected for 
any length of time, it assumes a malignant character — 
scabs and blotches, or red and fiery eruptions appear — 
and the disease rapidly passes into mange. 

Inflammation of the Lungs (Heavings). — If this 
disease is observed in its first stage, when indicated by 
loss of appetite and a short, hard cough, it may be 
possible to get it under control by copious bleeding, 
and friction, with stimulating ointment on the region 
of the lungs. Minute and frequent doses of tartar 
emetic should also be given in butter — all food of a 
stimulating nature carefully avoided — and the animal 
kept dry and warm. If once the heaving set in, it may 
be calculated with confidence that the formation of 



426 DISEASES OP SWINE. 

tubercles in the substance of the lung has begun : and 
when these are formed, they are very rarely absorbed. 
The causes of the disease are damp lodging, foul air, 
want of ventilation, and unwholesome food. The dis- 
ease gradually becomes infectious. The knife is prob- 
ably the best resort to provide against the danger oi 
infection, but the following remedy may be tried : Shave 
the hair away from the chest, and beneath each fore- 
leg; wet the parts with spirits of turpentine, and set 
fire to it, having previously had the animal well secured, 
with his head well raised, and a flannel cloth at hand 
with which to extinguish the flames after it has burned 
a sufficient time to produce slight blisters ; if carried 
too far, a sore is formed, productive of no good effects, 
and causing unnecessary suffering. Calomel may also 
be used, with a view to promote the absorption of the 
tubercles ; but the success is questionable. 

Jaundice. — Symptoms. — Yellowness of the white of 
the eye; a similar hue extending to the lips; some- 
times, but not invariably, swelling of the under part of 
the jaw. 

Treatment. — Bleed freely; diminish the quantity of 
food ; and give an active aperient ever}' second day. 
Aloes are, perhaps, the best combined with colocynth ; 
the dose will vary with the size of the animal. 

Leprosy. — Symptoms. — The formation of a small 
tumor in the eye, followed by a general prostration of 
spirits ; the head is held down ; the whole frame in- 
clines toward the ground ; universal languor succeeds; 
the animal refuses food, languishes, and rapidly falls 
away in flesh ; blisters soon make their appearance be- 
neath the tongue, then upon the throat, the jaws, the 



MANGE. 427 

head, and the entire body. The causes of this disease 
are want of cleanliness, absence of fresh air, want of 
due attention to ventilation, and'foul feeding. 

Treatment. — First bleed, then clean out the sty daily ; 
wash the animal ; rinse thoroughly with soap and water, 
to w T hich soda or potash has been added ; supply him 
with a clean bed; keep him dry and comfortable; let 
him have gentle exercise, and plenty of fresh air ; limit 
the quantity of his food, and diminish its rankness; 
give bran with wash, in which add — for an average- 
sized hog — say one of one hundred and sixty pounds' 
weight — a tablespoonful of the flour of sulphur, with as 
much nitre as will cover a dime, daily. A few grains 
of powdered antimony may also be given with effect. 

Lethargy. — Sympto'ms. — Torpor ; desire to sleep ; 
hanging of the head; and, frequently, redness of the 
eyes. The origin of this disease is, apparently, the 
same as that of indigestion, or surfeit. 

Treatment. — Bleed copiously ; then administer an 
emetic. A decoction of chamomile flower will be safest ; 
though a sufficient dose of tartar emetic will be far 
more certain. After this, reduce for a few days the 
amount of the animal's food, and administer a small 
portion of nitre and sulphur in each morning's meal. 

Mange. — Symptoms. — Scabs, blotches, and sometimes 
multitudes of minute pustules on different parts of the 
body. The disease spreads rapidly over the entire sur- 
face of the skin, and will, before long, produce deep- 
seated ulcers and malignant sores, until the whole 
carcass of the affected animal becomes a mass of cor- 
ruption. 

The cause is to be looked for in contagion or dirt, 
accompanied by hot feeding. 



428 DISEASES OP SWINE. 

Treatment. — Wash the animal from snout to tail, 
leaving no portion of the body uncleansed, with soap 
and water. Place him in a dry and clean sty, with 
fresh air, without, at the same time, an exposure to cold 
or draught; furnish a bed of clean, fresh straw. Re- 
duce his food, both in quality and quantity. Let boiled 
or steamed roots, with buttermilk or dairy-wash, take 
the place of any food of a heating or inflammatory 
character. Keep him without food for five or six hours, 
and then give to a hog of average size two ounces of 
Epsom salts in a warm bran-mash — to be increased or 
diminished, of course, as the animal's size ma} r require. 
This should be previously mixed with a pint of warm 
water, and added to about half a gallon of warm bran- 
mash, and it will act as a gentle purgative. Give in 
every meal afterward one tablespoonful of flour of 
sulphur, and as much nitre as will cover a dime, for 
from three days to a week, according to the state of the 
disease. When this treatment has been practiced for 
fourteen days, without affecting a cure, prepare the 
following : 

Train Oil 1 pt. 

Oil 01 Tar 2 dr. 

Spirits of Turpentine 2 dr. 

Naphtha 1 dr. 

With as much flour of sulphur as will form the fore 
going into a thick paste. Having washed the animal, 
rub him over with this mixture. Keep him dry and 
warm after this application, and allow it to remain on 
his skin for three days. On the fourth day wash him 
again with soft-soap, adding a small quantity of soda 
to the water. Dry him well afterward, and let him 
remain as he is, having again changed his bedding, for 
a day or so ; continue the sulphur and nitre as before. 



MEASLES. 429 

Almost all cases of mange will yield to this treatment. 
After he is convalescent, whitewash the sty, and fumi- 
gate it by placing a little chloride of lime in a cup or 
other vessel, and pouring a little vitriol upon it. In 
the absence of vitriol, boiling water will answer nearly 
as well. 

Measles. — This malady is attributable to dirt, com- 
bined with the giving of steamed food or wash to hogs 
at too high a temperature. 

Symptoms. — Redness of the eyes, foulness of the skin, 
and depression of spirits ; decline, or total departure of 
the appetite ; small pustules about the throat, and red 
and purple eruptions on the skin. The last are more 
plainly visible after death, when they impart a peculiar 
appearance to the grain of the meat, with fading of its 
color, and distention of the fibre, giving an appearance 
similar to that which might be produced by puncturing 
the flesh. 

Treatment — Allow the animal to fast, in the first 
instance, for twemVy-four hours, and then administer a 
warm drink, containing a drachm of carbonate of soda, 
and an ounce of bole armenian ; wash the animal, 
cleanse the sty, and change the bedding : give at every 
feeding, or three times a day, thirty grains of flour of 
sulphur, and ten of nitre. 

Murrain. — This resembles leprosy in its symptoms, 
with the addition of staggering, shortness of breath, and 
discharge of viscid matter from the eyes and mouth. 

Treatment. — Cleanliness, coolness, bleeding, purging, 
and limitation of food. Cloves of garlic are recom- 
mended. 



430 DISEASES OF SWINE. 

Quinsy. — This is an inflammatory affection of the 
glands of the throat. 

Treatment. — Shave away the hair and rub with tartar- 
emetic ointment. Fomenting with very warm water 
is also useful. When external suppuration takes place, 
it is to be regarded as a favorable symptom. In this 
case, wait until the swellings are thoroughly ripe ; then 
with a sharp knife make an incision through the entire 
length, press out the matter, wash with warm water, 
and afterward dress the wound with any resinous oint- 
ment, or yellow soap with coarse brown sugar. 

Staggers. — Treatment. — Bleed freely and purge. 

Swelling of the Spleen. — Symptoms. — Leaning to 
one side, cringing, as it were, from internal pain, and 
bending toward the ground. The cause of the obstruc- 
tion on which the disease depends, is over-feeding. 

Treatment. — Clean out the alimentary canal by means 
of a powerful aperient. Allow the animal to fast for 
four or five hours, when he will take a little sweet wash 
or broth, in which may be mingled a dose of Epsom 
salts proportioned to his size. If the affection has con- 
tinued for any length the animal should be bled. A 
decoction of the leaves and tops of wormwood and liver- 
wort, produced by boiling them in soft water for six 
hours, may be given in doses of from half a pint to a 
pint and a half, according to the size, age, etc., of the 
animal. Scammony and rhubarb, mixed in a bran 
wash, or with Indian meal, may be given with advan- 
tage on the following day ; or, equal portions of blue- 
pill mass and compound colocynth pill, formed into a 
bolus with butter. The animal having been kept 
fasting the previous night, will probably swallow it ; 
if not, let his fast continue a couple of hours longer. 



SURFEIT. 431 

Surfeit. — This is another name for indigestion. 

Symptoms. — Panting ; loss of appetite ; swelling of the 
region about the stomach, etc. ; and frequently throwing 
up the contents of the stomach. 

Treatment. — In general, this affection will pass away, 
provided it is allowed to cure itself, and all food care- 
fully kept from the animal for a few hours; a small 
quantity of sweet grains, with a little bran mash, may 
then be given, but not nearly as much as the animal 
would wish to take. For a few days the food should 
be limited in quantity, and of a washy, liquid nature. 
The ordinary food may then be resumed, only observing 
to feed regularly, and remove the fragments remaining 
after each meal. 

Tumors. — These are hard swellings, which make 
their appearance on different parts of the body. They 
are not formidable, and require onty to be suffered to 
progress until they soften : then make a free incision, 
and press out the matter. Sulphur and nitre should 
be given in the food, as the appearance of these swell- 
ings, whatever be their cause, indicates the necessity of 
alterative medicines. 



DISEASES OF DOGS. 



If you wish to keep a dog in good health give him 
plenty of exercise and be careful not to overfeed him. 
Once a day is often enough to feed a grown dog, though 
his allowance may be divided into two portions, if 
deemed advisable, and given in the morning and 
evening. Never allow food to remain in a dog's dish 
after he has satisfied his hunger. Any remnants of his 
meal should be thrown away. Puppies require food 
three times a day. Dogs that have to be chained should 
be supplied w T ith two swivel chains to allow them some 
freedom ; they should also be kept in a dog-house that 
is snug and free from draughts. 

As regards food, dogs fed upon table-scraps should 
never have more than one-fourth meat in their allow- 
ance. The best food for dogs has been found to be a 
biscuit made of a combination of cereals, and a certain 
percentage of beef. These can be bought ready made. 

At least one of these biscuits should be fed every day ; 
whatever the food allowed. It can be given dry or 
soaked, but is better dry, if the dog will take it. If not, 
do not soak long. Pour water over the broken pieces, 
let them stand five minutes, and then drain. Once or 
twice a week the broken biscuit may be mixed with an 
equal quantity of Indian and oatmeal (half-and-half) 
and boiled with water to a stiff mush. Feed cold. For 
puppies and young dogs, soak the biscuit in unskimmed 
milk. 

(432) 



ASTHMA. 433 

It is very essential to the health of dogs that they be 
kept clean. Dog-soap and a crash towel should be used 
frequently. 

Asthma. — Symptoms. — Heavy breathing, panting, 
hoarse bark, and constipation. 
Treatment. — 

Charcoal 1 scruple. 

Iron 10 gr. 

In a pill, three or four times a week. Feed on dog- 
biscuit, and purge twice a week with castor-oil. Allow 
plenty of exercise. 

Bronchitis. — Symptoms. — A dry cough, sometimes 
attended by vomiting ; expectoration showing bloody 
froth ; eyes inflamed ; nostrils dry ; tongue parched ; 
and pulse quick. 

Treatment. — Keep the dog out of draughts, and give 
from one to three grains of tartar emetic, according to 
the size of the animal. If this does not cure give : 

Spirits of Camphor J oz. 

Spirits of Ether 1 oz. 

Extract Licorice 4 oz. 

Dose : For a small dog, one teaspoonful three times 
a day ; three times the dose, three times a day, for a 
large dog. Feed dog-biscuit soaked in soup, broth, or 
milk. 

Chorea, or Jerks (More commonly called St. Vitus' 
Dance).- — A nervous movement of the paws, head, 
shoulders, etc., intensified in sleep. 

Treatment. — Keep him out of the wet and give : 

Sulphate of Zinc 2 to 5 gr. 

Extract of Gentian 2 gr. 

Three times a day. 



434 DISEASES OF DOGS. 

Common Gold, — Symptoms. — A chilliness, with 
heated surface of the body ; a rapid pulse and quick 
breathing. The appetite fails, costiveness shows itself, 
and the urine becomes dark in color. A cough often 
accompanies these symptoms, and a slight running 
from the eyes and nose is observed, which must not be 
taken for the beginning of a distemper attack. If the 
discharge becomes profuse and a doubt exists that it 
results from a cold, go to your veterinary surgeon. 
Give a dose once a day of: 

Podophyllin \ to \ gr. 

Extract Colocynth 12 to 18 gr. 

Powdered Rhubarb .... 3 to 5 gr. 
Oil of Cloves 2 drops. 

Pleurisy. — Symptoms. — Shivering, quick breathing 
with inspiration especially short; a dry cough ; fever; 
hot nose ; watery eyes ; slimy tongue and hard pulse. 
The dog keeps his fore-legs stretched apart, as any 
pressure or contraction of the ribs causes pain. 

Treatment. — 

Spirits Ether 2 oz. 

Ammonia Acetate 4 oz. 

Dose: For a small dog, one teaspoonful every four 
hours, mixed with double the amount of linseed tea. 
For a large dog, give twice the quantity of each ingre- 
dient. Apply a mustard plaster to the chest. 

Pneumonia. — Symjrtoms. — Shivering ; high fever ; 
quick pulse and breathing ; short cough and bloodshot 
eyes. 

Treatment. — The same as for Pleurisy. Be sure to 
use the counter-irritants, srch as mustard plaster, etc. 

Rheumatic Fever. — Symptoms. — Considerable, but 



DISTEMPER. 435 

not very high fever, pulse quick, with shivering, except 
when touched, when the slightest approach will cause 
a shriek, apparently from pain. 

Treatment. — The following purgative : 

Calomel , . 2 to 5 gr. 

Jalap 10 to 20 gr. 

Mix with syrup and make into a bolus. After this 
has operated, give : 

Calomel J to 1 gr. 

Powdered Opium ....... J to 1 gr. 

Powdered Colchicum 1J to 3 gr. 

Syrup enough to make one pill. 

The animal can be rubbed with any approved lini- 
ment where the pain seems to be present, and his diet 
kept free from meat. 

Distemper. — Symptoms. — Great dullness with loss of 
appetite, followed in a day or two by a husky cough, 
especially showing itself after exercise ; a sneezing is 
now noticed ; strength and flesh rapidly diminish, the 
stools are inky and offensive; the urine becomes very 
highly colored, and the membranes of the eyes, and 
sometimes the whites, are greatly inflamed. Some 
cases of distemper seem to be confined principally to 
the head, another to the chest, and a third to the bowels. 
When the brain is attacked the eyes are more injected 
than when the bowels or the lungs are affected. The 
nose and eyes show increased mucous discharge as the 
disease progresses. A fit is almost always the surest 
sign of brain trouble, and when this takes place more 
than twice, the attack generally proves fatal, or the 
animal is ever afterwards affected w 7 ith chorea, or the 
jerks. If the lungs be involved there is rapid breathing, 
cough, and profuse running from the eyes and nose. 



436 DISEASES OF DOGS. 

If this runs into inflammation of the lungs, the danger 
is as great as if the head was affected. The bowels are 
sometimes seized, and show by black purgings that 
these organs are involved. Very often in this stage 
passages of blood quickly carry the dog off. 

Treatment. — At the commencement of the attack, give 
the dog a fever mixture, as follows: 

Nitre 1 dr. 

Spirits of Nitre 3 dr. 

Mindererus Spirit 1 oz. 

Camphor Mixture 6^ oz. 

One to four dessertspoonfuls every six hours, accord- 
ing to the size of the dog. 

If the lungs are severely attacked, a powder must be 
put upon the dog's tongue every night and morning, 
made of: 

Nitre in Powder 3 to 5 gr. 

Tartar Emetic i to £ gr. 

If a severe and weakening cough presents itself, ad- 
minister every night and morning a bolus of: 

Ipecacuanha, in powder . . . . £ to 1£ gr. 

Powdered Rhubarb 1 to 2 gr. 

Purified Opium £ to 1J gr. 

Compound Squill Pill 1 to 2 gr. 

Bloody diarrhoea, which is very dangerous in dis- 
temper, can be checked with : 

Prepared Chalk 2 to 3 dr. 

Aromatic Confection 1 dr. 

Laudanum 3 to 8 dr. 

Powdered Gum Arabic ..... 2 dr. 
Water 7 oz. 

One to three teaspoonfuls, according to size of dog, 
every time the bowels are relaxed. 

For a diet, beef tea thickened with grated dog-biscuit 
can be given. Especially at the time of exhaustion 
should good strong beef tea with an egg stirred into it, 



INFLAMMATION OP THE STOMACH. 437 

be given by spoon, every two or three hours. If the 
dog will not take it, his head must be held up, and he 
should be gently forced to swallow it, by rubbing his 
throat after it has been poured into his mouth. If this 
troublesome plan of feeding is followed, many a valu- 
able animal can be saved for his owner. As strength 
gradually returns, the diet can be made stronger, with 
care taken to allow no exercise until a gain is well 
established, for fear of a relapse. The kennel, during 
distemper, should be dry, and moderately warm, and 
in a position where the dog will not be exposed to 
draughts of air. 

Inflammation of the Stomach. — Symptoms. — Fre- 
quent and violent efforts to vomit; great thirst; dry 
and hot nose, and quick respiration. The dog will 
ofttimes lie on the floor or ground, with his belly in 
contact with it as if to allay the pain. Give : 

Calomel \ to 1 gr. 

Opium \ to 1 gr. 

In pill, every three hours ; and feed with dog-biscuit 
soaked in soup or broth. Gastritis and dyspepsia are 
much alike, and may be treated the same. 

Inflammation of the Liver. — Symptoms. — The 
whites of the eyes, in this disease, are yellow ; shivering ; 
hot nose; rapid breathing; costiveness ; weak pulse, 
and scanty clay colored stools are also accompanying 
symptoms. 

Treatment. — Give a pill of : 

Podophyllin , . \ to \ gr. 

Extract* of Colocynth 12 to 18 gr. 

Powdered Khubarb 3 to 5 gr. 

Oil of Cloves ........ 2 drops. 



438 DISEASES OP DOGS. 

The greater proportion for a large dog and less for a 
small dog. As soon as this has operated, rub the right 
side with an embrocation of: 

Strong Mustard 3 to 5 oz, 

Liquid Ammonia \ to 1 oz. 

Spirits Turpentine 1 oz. 

At same time give a pill of: 

Opium \ r to 1 gr. 

Calomel .... \ to 1 gr. 

And keep the bowels open with castor-oil. 

Inflammation of the Bowels. — Symptoms. — Great 
thirst and loss of appetite, and the peculiar attitude the 
animal takes. His back becomes arched, and his legs 
drawn together. 

Treatment. — Calomel and opium in doses of one-half 
to one grain each, every three or four hours. If severe, 
bathe the dog in warm water, and after he is well dried, 
rub his belly with a liniment of one-half ounce each of 
spirits of turpentine, liquor ammonia, and laudanum. 
Feed with grated dog-biscuit, well soaked in milk, 
broth, or soup. 

Mange. — Mange is a skin disease in dogs, arising 
from tilth, damp kennels, housing in cellars, and a con- 
sequent want of sunlight and from parasites. The 
disease is of different varieties. 

1. The Blotch. — Which appears in scabby lumps of 
hair, chiefly on the back, side, head and quarters; and 
in a few days the scab drops off, leaving a moist red 
spot. 

2. Foul Mange. — Is brought about by impure blood, 
and cannot be cured by lotions alone. It is both hered- 
itary and contagious. In foul mange the skin becomes 



©ANKER OP THE EAR. 

thick and discharges an offensive matter, and finally 
runs into ulcers, with great itching all the time; the 
hair becomes dead and falls out, and the animal is 
nervous and irritable. The cure requires patience 
and ofttimes long treatment. The method we advise, 
if minutely carried out, will effect a cure. It is as 
follows : 

Feed on dog-biscuit broken and mixed with equal 
weight of half oat and Indian meal, and administer 
Fowler's solution of arsenic, one drop to each four 
pounds in weight of the dog, three times a day ; dividing 
the food into three portions for morning, noon and 
night. This must be kept up until itching ceases, and 
very often continued for months. 

3. Red Mange. — Is a disease of the hair, and may 
be known by the red appearance always at the roots in 
spots, at the elbows, under the arms, and inside of them, 
also inside the thighs. 

In all cases of mange, disinfectants should be used 
on bedding and kennel of the dog, and the animal 
washed with some reliable " mange wash," which can 
be had of any fancier. 

A proprietary medicine known as " Phenyle," has 
been used with excellent effect for mange. It is com- 
posed largely of carbolic acid, is quite inexpensive, and 
can be got at any drug store. 

Canker of the Ear. — Symptoms. — Shaking of the 
head continually, and frequent scratching the ear. 

Treatment. — Keep raw meat and greasy food from 
the animal; feed on dog-biscuit, syringe the ear with 
luke-warm water and soap, and then syringe again 
twice a day with Canker Wash, which can be procured 



440 DISEASES OP DOGS. 

from druggists and gunsmiths throughout the country. 
If there are any sores on the edges of the ear, touch 
them with blue-stone. 

Fleas and Lice. — These troublesome pests are the 
'bane of dogs, especially during the warm months, 
when, by continually annoying the animal, reduce him 
almost to a skeleton, cause the hair to fall out, and 
cause sores that are often mistaken for mange. There 
are many soaps, both domestic and imported, that are 
placed upon the market to destroy these vermin ; also, 
flea washes whose relative merits can be ascertained on 
inquiry. 

Fits. — Fits resulting from irritation come on at the 
age when puppies begin to cut their teeth. A hot bath 
will check them. 

Never throw cold water upon the dog, as is often done. 
Apoplectic fits are generally fatal. 

The dog does not foam at the mouth in these, but 
lies quite still on his side and breathes heavily. Epi- 
leptic fits are known by frothing at the mouth and a 
champing of the jaws. These can be cut short by an 
injection of five drops of ether to an ounce of warm 
water. Give also two grains Bromide of Potassium 
twice a day for three or four weeks, and some good dog 
tonic according to directions. 

Worms. — Symptoms. — The coat becomes harsh and 
dead in appearance. The dog is costive and loose at 
times, and his stool is generally mixed with a white 
slimy mucus. His appetite is ravenous, yet sometimes 
poor. He seems to derive no benefit from his food, and 
may be seen to swallow small pieces of dirt, ashes, rags, 
or sticks, in order, as it were to force the worms from 
the stomach by this means- 



RICKETS OR LARGE JOINTS. 44 J 

Treatment. — Worm Capsules administered on an 
empty stomach, the dog having fasted four or five hours 
before the remedy is given him. 

This, followed in two hours with a dose of castor-oilj 
will expel the worms. Dog vermifuge can be procured 
from leading druggists. 

Tape worm, in our experience, has to be treated in 
an entirely different manner, and by a mechanical pro- 
cess. The tape worm specific, if used as directed, will 
rid a dog of this troublesome tenant. The tape worm 
specific is put up in boxes containing twelve capsules 
each. Three are to be given to a large dog, on an empty 
stomach ; two to a medium sized dog ; and one to a 
smaller animal. Follow in about three hours with a 
dose of castor-oil ; and have the dog confined so as to 
examine his stool. If the head of the worm has passed 
away, cease administering the specific; but if you are 
not satisfied that the entire worm has passed, administer 
a second time, two days following. The Tape Worm 
Specific can be procured from druggists. 

Rickets or Large Joints. — If puppies are fed with 
dog-biscuit, grated and mixed with milk, they will be 
free from this deformity. 

This food, by analysis made, is shown to be rich in 
phosphate and carbonate of lime, and will supply bone 
matter. Growing puppies should also be supplied with 
pure ground bone. This should be freely mixed with 
their food. 

Tumors and Cancers. — A dog suffering with tumor 
or can?er should be treated only by a skillful veterinary 
surgeci. 

Puerperal Fits. — Sometimes after a mother has 
given birth to a litter of puppies, and about the time 



442 DISEASES OF DOGS. 

she begins to suckle them she is taken with spasms of 
puerperal fits. When this occurs, place her at once in 
a hot bath and immerse all except the head. This is 
in the majority of cases unfailing in its effect. 

Protracted Labor. — A healthy bitch very seldom 
has trouble in giving birth to a litter. 

The time may be long in some cases and short in 
others ; but as a rule, it is best to allow nature to have 
its course. If human assistance is absolutely needed, 
a gentle manipulation may be made, and a few drops 
of ergot administered. 

Sprains. — Rub the injured part with : 

Malt Vinegar 1 oz. 

Spirits of Camphor 2 oz. 

Water 7 oz. 

To Harden Tender Feet. — Bathe the feet daily in 
a solution of white oak bark and alum. Every other 
day rub the parts with cosmoline. 



HOW TO GIVE MEDICINES. 
Dog medicines can all be administered in gelatine 
capsules which dissolve in the stomach. Hold the dog 
between your knees, open his mouth gently, holding 
the head as high as you can and let a second party put 
the capsule quickly down his throat. Close the jaws, 
and give the dog a sharp tap under the chin, which 
will cause him to swallow. Liquid medicines may be 
given in the drinking water or broth. When it is 
necessary to force the dog to take the medicine, use a 
long necked bottle. Open the mouth and hold the 
nose till you are sure he has swallowed the dose. Then 
give him some meat, and take him out for a run, which 
will often keep him from vomiting the medicine. 



DISEASES OF BIRDS. 



Asthma. — A common complaint. 

Symptoms. — Loss of voice and wheezing. 

Remedy. — Soaked rape and plantain seed; also, a 
piece of fat pork sprinkled with red pepper and hung 
in the cage. 

Corpulence. — Give plenty of grated carrot; also, 
dry ants' eggs in the drinking water. 

Costiveness. — Symptoms.- — Difficulty in making the 
evacuations from the bowels. 

Remedy. — Get a spider for the bird to eat, or apply 
linseed oil to the anus by means of a blunt pin. Feed 
on lettuce and other green foods. 

Decline. — Symptoms. — Roughness of feathers, emaci- 
ation and a voracious appetite, especially for sweet, and 
what may be termed unnatural foods. 

Remedy. — Give a spider as a purgative ; also, water- 
cress, etc., as for costiveness. A rusty-nail in the 
drinking-cup will supply iron as a tonic. 

Diarrhoea. — Symptoms. — Excrement white and 
chalky, smearing the feathers and producing external 
inflammation. 

Remedy. — A rusty nail in the water, and linseed oil 
applied as for costiveness. Sugar is binding, and a 
little red pepper may be given. If these do not cure, 

(443) 



444 DISEASES OF BIRDS. 

get some mild astringent of the druggist, and put a few 
drops in the drinking-water. What is known as bird 
bitters may cure the case. 

Egg-bound. — The daily egg should be laid before 
nine o'clock. If the laying is not accomplished by that 
time, and the bird should show signs of stupor, it is 
probably egg-bound. In this event, the shape of the 
egg will probably be defined near the orifice, which 
should be anointed with sweet-oil. If the laying is 
delayed very long the egg may be gently broken by 
pressure with the fingers, which should be previously 
oiled. This will give speedy relief. 

Egg-Rupture. — No remedy has been found for this 
trouble. The passage from the ovary becomes obstructed 
and swells to abnormal size. The bird is pretty sure 
to die. 

Epilepsy. — This is caused by want of exercise and 
by too rich food. 

Sympto ms. — Fai n ti n g. 

Remedy. — Dip the bird in cold water once or twice, 
and cut the claws till they bleed. Give a few drops of 
sweet-oil. In large birds a vein may be opened in the 
foot. When the bird comes to, wrap it in warm flannel. 
The disease is incurable, but fatal effects may be averted 
by keeping in the cage a little oat meal, chalk, and 
bay salt. 

Feet, Diseases of the, — Sore feet are sure to result 
from dirty perches or an unclean cage. If the feet are 
caked with dirt, soak them in luke-warm water for two 
or three minutes every day. If the feet are distorted, 
or knotted, or warty, bathe them and grease them with 



GIDDINESS. 445 

cosmoline. Cut the nails when they are long, but do 
not cut below the vein in the claw or they will bleed. 
This vein can be easily seen by holding the foot to the 
light. 

Giddiness. — This results from the bird's habit of 
looking up, when he loses his balance, and may fall 
from the perch. As a remedy, cover the top of the cage. 

Lice. — Cover the cage at night with a canton flannel 
cloth, which should be burned in the morning. Scald 
the cage, perches, cups, etc., even to the cuttle-fish-bone. 
Sprinkle sulphur under the wings and thighs, and on 
the back of the bird's neck. Feed astringent foods 
meanwhile, to counteract the purgative tendency of the 
sulphur. Also, keep the cage supplied with clean sand, 
mixed with anise seed. 

Loss of Voice. — Give Lettuce seed. 

Pairing Fever. — This is a savage state mani- 
festing itself in loss of song, pecking, melancholy, 
roughened feathers, and loss of flesh. It is due to 
an ungratified desire for a mate. The bird should be 
mated, or the cage hung in some suniiy window, where 
its attention may be distracted. 

Pimples or Obstruction of the Rump Gland. — 

Symptoms. — The gland swells and festers from not being 
used. The bird holds its tail down, sits still and pecks 
at the affected part. 

Remedy. — Anoint with cosmoline, or open the festered 
gland with a fine needle. Never cut off the gland, for 
in that case the bird will die at the next moulting 
season. 



446 DISEASES OF BIRDS. 

Pip, — Symptoms. — Stoppage of the nostrils, dryness 
and hardening of the tongue, yellowness at the root of 
the beak, roughness of feathers and gasping for breath. 

Remedy. — Give a pill of butter, garlic and pepper, 
and put an infusion of speedwell in the drinking-cup. 
Clear the nostrils with a fine feather. In large birds, 
the hardened skin may be peeled from the tongue, 
beginning near the palate. 

Rheum or Gold. — Symptoms. — Shaking of the head 
and sneezing. Give a few drops of some expectorant 
medicine in the water ; or give bird bitters. 

Rupture. — Too nourishing food will occasion this 
disease which manifests itself in indigestion and inflam- 
mation of the bowels. 

Symptoyns. — Emaciation, loss of feathers about the part 
effected, which is swollen and blood-shot; descent of 
the bowels which appear black and knotted. A little 
alum, a rusty nail or salt in the water may be bene- 
ficial, but there is no positive cure. 

Sneezing. — Clear the nostrils with a fine feather. 

Sweating. — Females sometimes sweat on the nest so 
profusely that the young birds die from it. 

Remedy. — Wash her daily in salt and water, after- 
wards in fresh water and let her dry in the sun. 

Tympany. — Symptoms. — The skin puffs up with air 
underneath it. 

Remedy. — Prick the skin with a pin. 

Yellow Scab. — Symptoms. — A yellow scab on the 
eyes and head. 



THE CARE OF BIRDS. 447 

Remedy. — Give nourishing food and cut away any 
small ulcers which may appear. 

They ma} 7- afterwards be anointed with cosmoline. 

Birds should bathe frequently to preserve their health. 
If they will not do so voluntarily, they should be 
sprinkled with water until they become reconciled to a 
daily plunge. 



THE OAEE OF BIEDS. 

aIIow the birds plenty of fresh water for drinking 
and bathing ; also clean fine gravel. 

Cleanliness is an important item in preserving the 
health of the little prisoners. Their perches should be 
washed frequently and no remnants of food should be 
allowed to sour and spoil in their cages. Let them 
have plenty of sunlight — they love especially to bathe 
in the mnshine — and plenty of warm fresh air, though 
they should be carefully shielded from draughts. 
Moreover, do not place them directly in the rays of the 
hot sun. Provide them with a canopy or umbrella ; 
and, on the other hand, do not give them a bath of 
very cold water. Any extremes are hurtful to these 
delicate creatures. Give them plenty of food and a 
variety, showing preference to what may be called 
" natural " bird diet, among which may be mentioned 
green things like chickweed, water-cress, lettuce, cab- 
bage, etc. 

A wire cage is generally considered the best kind in 
which to keep birds of all descriptions, though wooden 
cages, and notably mahogany ones, are said to repel 
mites. 

The cage may be painted or unpainted, but is per- 
haps better unpainted, though green paint is the only 
kind considered really injurious. Have the cages as 
large as possible, and cover the bottom with clean paper 
daily. If possible allow the birds the liberty of a large 



448 DISEASES OF BIRDS. 

room, as they are much healthier under such circum- 
stances. 

It is a great mistake to keep the canary starving and 
fretting along on one kind of food, or a few tiresome 
varieties of seed, when their nature as birds which fly 
whithersoever they will, eating whatever piques their 
appetite, prompts them to crave a pleasant variety of 
food. Summer rape seed may be mixed with crushed 
hemp, canary, or poppy seed, with oats, oatmeal, or 
millet. This is good diet but should be accompanied 
by other things. Barley meal, or bread, or cracker, 
soaked in milk may be given every day. Hemp seed 
should be given sparingly, except in the spring and 
moulting season (July and August). Do not give 
salted or greasy food, or too many sweets. Green food 
may be given daily with advantage. Mustard seed and 
pepper-grass seed may be tossed sparingly on the sand 
of the cage. Red pepper, sprinkled on bread and milk, 
may be eaten occasionally. At all times you may give 
the following : 

Lettuce, chickweed, plantain-rods, pepper-grass, 
tender asparagus, cabbage, tender clover-tops, roses and 
buds, apple, pear, peach, melon, banana, orange, plums, 
cherries, berries and other ripe, wholesome food. Also, 
figs, dates, raisins, popped corn, stale bread, buns, 
sponge-cake, yolk of hard-boiled egg, rice boiled or 
soaked, Irish or sweet potatoes boiled or baked, sweet 
corn raw or cooked, green peas, tender string-beans, 
young sugar-beet and tender turnip. Occasionally the 
meat of nuts like the shellbark, peanut, beechnut, 
filbert, etc., may be chopped fine and given to the 
canary, but the richer nuts, like butternuts, walnuts, 
creamnuts, etc., must be given with great discrimina- 
tion. 

The canary may be mated with the linnet, lesser red 
pole, goldfinch, siskin, serin, citrilfinch, bullfinch and 



THE CARE OF BIRDS. 449 

green finch. The goldfinch, or linnet, and the canary 
have offspring with unusually fine voices. Males should 
be two years old before they are mated. Mating a young 
male with an older female is said to result in the 
hatching of a large percentage of singers. For breed- 
ing purposes a good sized cage is required ; one that 
may be easily cleaned without jarring or disturbing 
the occupants, is preferable. The pair may be kept 
together until the brood is raised. The female will 
begin to lay eight days after mating. A little basket 
in the form of a nest may be bought for a trifling sum, 
and should be lined with canton flannel, padded with 
soft wool. Supply the birds with goat's hair from which 
to build their nests. This may be thrust loosely in the 
bars of the cage. From four to five eggs will be laid, 
an'd they will hatch in fourteen days from the time of 
laying, one egg being laid each day. Do not jar the 
nest, any shock may kill the germ of life in the egg. 
Therefore, never take the eggs out of the nest, and be 
sure to shield them from draughts. When the eggs 
are hatched, supply the birds with summer rape seed, 
slightly boiled, and then washed in cold water and let 
stand two hours. Also, give daity one-fourth of the 
yolk of a hard-boiled egg, chopped fine, mixed with 
bread soaked in water and pressed dry. These foods 
are for the old birds to feed the young. The mother- 
bird should shelter her young for twelve days after 
hatching. If the young are not sufficiently fed by the 
parent-birds, they should be fed by hand on crushed 
rape seed prepared as before and mixed with bread or 
biscuit, yolk of hard-boiled egg and water. Feed about 
four quillsful ten or twelve times a day. The young 
ought to feed themselves in thirteen days, and may 
have cages of their own when they are a month old. 
They should still have soaked rape *<**<* f ™ "ome ti™* 



450 DISEASES OF BIRDS. 

after their separation. Breed birds, if possible, in a 
room where they can fly about and get the exercise 
necessary to strengthen them. 

TEACHING TO SING. 

In teaching a young bird to sing, it is well to have a 
fine songster in the room to act as a stimulant and a 
preceptor. Canaries can be taught to sing a tune, if 
taken from the cage early, and carefully instructed. 
Females do not sing, as a rule, but some have very good 
voices, and when they do develop, are apt to be very 
sweet and low in quality. 

Moulting canaries shed their feathers in July or 
August, and in the early fall. The first moult occurs 
when the bird is six weeks old, and will continue two 
months. In the moulting season, give young or old 
birds a small quantity of fresh beef once a week, having 
washed the meat in cold water, and chopped it fine. 
Give also occasionally the yolk of a hard-boiled egg; 
hemp seed, sugar, ripe chickweed, water-cress, and a 
rusty nail in the water every other day. At the second 
or third moulting season singers are apt to lose their 
voice, but it is merely a temporary weakness. An ex- 
cellent food for moulting birds, and one that is good at 
all times, is made as follows : Having crushed a pint 
of rape seed until the husks can be blown off, add 
about the same quantity of bread, and reduce the mix- 
ture to a fine paste or powder. This, mixed with the 
yolk of a hard-boiled egg and a little water, is excel- 
lent food for young birds. To old ones it may be given 
dry. The food is best made fresh every day, but may 
be kept twenty days in an oak box in a cool place. 
Young birds, just separated from their parents, may be 
fed on stale sponge-cake powdered, with hard white of 

egg- 




uf 

(Z 



O 



PART II. 

Prof. Gleason's System of Horse Taming. 



INTELLIGENCE AND MEMORY OF THE HOESE. 

THE APPARATUS FOR TRAINING. 

BAD HABITS OF HORSES AND HOW TO CONTROL THEM 

FEAR AND MONOMANIA IN HORSES. 

BREAKING AND TRAINING COLTS. 

WHIP TRAINING. 

HOW TO MAKE A HORSE TROT " SQUARE.* 5 

TRICK HORSES. 

HINTS UPON HORSESHOING. 

SHORT POINTERS FOR HORSEMEJT. 



PREFACE. 



Much needless cruelty has, until the last few years, 
attended the art of training horses. This noble animal, 
who stands next to man in point of intelligence, cer- 
tainly deserves to be considered rational, so far as his 
ordinary duties are concerned ; and while we may not 
be justified in ascribing to him the power of reasoning, 
those who are best acquainted with his habits know 
that he does possess, to a certain extent, the ability to 
reason and to recognize the laws of " cause and effect." 

The old system of training was one purely of ex- 
haustion and subjugation — not of education. On the 
other hand our system is one of education, preserving the 
natural spirit of the animal. He is first taught what is 
required of him, and that lesson learned he becomes a 
willing subject. To attempt to force a high-spirited 
horse to do that which he does not comprehend is to 
invite and excite resistance ; and the natural result is 
the production of balking, kicking, and otherwise 
unruly animals. 

Few men possess the nerve and brute strength 
required to handle a horse successfully by the old 
methods, while by our system of education a youth of 



PREFACE. 

fifteen or sixteen years can handle, break to harness, 
and finally control the wildest animal. The only 
requisites are patience, kindness and perseverance. A 
man who cannot control himself can never hope to 
control a horse. 

Those horse-owners who have the time and inclina- 
tion to devote to the pastime of teaching their horses 
to perform " tricks," will find minute instructions to 
that end in these pages. It will at once be seen that 
there is nothing wonderful nor difficult about this 
system ; the same rule of patience, kindness and per- 
severance must be observed and then success is certain. 

We submit this treatise to the public in the hope 
that it may correct, to a very great extent, the harsh 
methods which are too frequently employed, even in 
this enlightened age. 

OLIVER W. GLEASON. 

Philadelphia, 

April 15, 1889. 



CONTENTS. 



PRACTICAL HORSE TRAINING. 



PAGE 



Intelligence and Memory of the Horse 451 

The Apparatus for Training 454 

The Kope Halter . 454 

The Cord 454 

The Line Webbing 456 



BAD HABITS OF THE HORSE AND HOW TO 
CONTROL THEM. 

Balking 465 

Biting 469 

Cribbing 469 

Halter Pulling 477 

Hard Pullers or Luggers on the Bit 475 

Horses Ugly to Shoe in Front 464 

Plugging the Pole 476 

Kicking Against the Stall 458 

Kicking in the Stable 457 

Kicking While Grooming 459 

Kicking While Harnessing 459 

Kicking in Double Harness 461 

Kicking in Single Harness ....... 460 

Kicking While Shoeing ...... e 462 

Lolling the Tongue 476 

Befusing to Stand While Getting into a Carriage . . . 474 

Bunning Away 471 

Shying Horses 466 

Striking 464 

Ugly to Bridle 475 

"Weaving" 468 



FEAR AND MONOMANIA IN HORSES . 479 



BREAKING AND TRAINING OF COLTS. 

Bitting the Colt 492 

Haltering 4g§ 



CONTENTS. 

MOB 

Harnessing 488 

Hitching to the Wagon 491 

Hitching the Colt in the Stable 487 

Learning to Back 490 

Mounting the Colt 494 

Kiding the Colt 495 

To Add Style 494 

Training Colts to Harness 487 

Training to Stop ... 489 



WHIP TRAINING. 

How to Train a Horse to Drive Without Bit or Line . . 496 



HOW TO MAKE A HOUSE TROT " SQUARE " 499 



TRICK HORSES. 

How to Train and Control Them 501 

The Short Strap 501 

The Long Strap 501 



SOME SIMPLE TRICKS. 

Learning to Waltz 507 

To Teach a Horse to Lie Down 502 

To Make a Horse Bow — To Sit Up — To Answer Questions . . 505 

To Kiss You -To Shake Hands 506 

To Kick With the t ight or Left Foot 607 

To Teach a Colt to Follow You 508 



HINTS UPON HORSESHOEING. 

Applying the Shoe 513 

Clips Upon the Shoe — "Intf rfering" 514 

Overreaching 515 

Preparing -the Foot for the Shoe 512 

Shoeing Horses W T ith Corns — Keeping the Feet Moist . . 516 



SHORT POINTERS FOR HORSEMEN . . 617 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PACE 

Looping the Cord ..•••, 455 

Cord Applied on Lower Jaw .... 456 

Cord Applied on Neck , 456 

Kicking ....... 457 

Two Methods for Kicking Horses . . . 460 

Straps on Kicking Horse .... 461 

Control While Shoeing— First Method . . . 462 

Control While Shoeing — Second Method . . 463 

The Long Foot-Strap . . . . . 465 

Cribbing Muzzle ...... 469 

Eunning Away . . . . . . , 471 

Tempering the Mouth . . - . . 472 

Taking Up the Foot ...... 472 

Straps Applied to a Kunaway Horse . . 473 

Straps on Kunaway Horse ..... 474 

Cord Used Upon the Mouth .... 474 

To Prevent Halter Pulling .... 477 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

Pulling on the Halter ..... 478 

Teaching the Horse to Stand .... 481 

The Halter Puller ..... 482 

Trying to Gft Away ...... 483 

Haltering the Colt ..... 485 

Whoa! 489 

Learning to Back ...... 490 

Long Web Applied ...... 492 

Bitting the Colt ...... 493 

Setting Up the Head ..... 493 

How to Make a Horse Trot "Square" . . 499 

The Short Strap Applied ..... 501 

The Struggle . . . . . . 502 

Learning to Lie Down ..... 503 

Coming on His Knees ..... 503 

Helpless ....... 504 

Conquered . . . . . . 504 

Hints Upon Horseshoeing ..... 509 



PRACTICAL HORSE TRAINING. 



INTELLIGENCE AND MEMORY OP THE HORSE. 

The form, proportions, muscular powers, and swift- 
ness of the horse, combined with its spirit, docility and 
intelligence, expressly fit it for the use of man. It is 
alike serviceable for draught and the saddle. From its 
primeval nursery it has radiated in all directions ; it 
has accompanied man in his wanderings over the world. 
To the industrious inhabitant of the thronged city, to 
the agriculturist, to the sportsman who follows the chase 
for pleasure, and to him who scours the plains in quest 
of prey, a " mighty hunter before the Lord," this noble, 
beautiful, but too often ill-treated creature, is either 
important or essential. It performs the drudgery of 
toilsome servitude ; it draws the peaceful plough, and 
dashes on in battle amidst withering volleys of musketry 
and the clash of gleaming swords. Man owes a deep 
debt of gratitude to the horse, and is bound to acknowl- 
edge his sense of its value by humanity and kindness. 
In its natural state, the horse is gregarious; and in 
domestication it exhibits the same propensity to asso- 
ciate with its fellows. In the field they herd together, 
form friendships, gambol with each other, and rush to 
the fence to see a strange horse in the road, saluting 
him with repeated neighings. So decided is the dispo- 
sition of the horse to contract friendship that, when 
others of its species are not accessible, it will attach 
itself to animals of a different species. Many instances 

(451) 



452 PRACTICAL HORSE TRAINING. 

of mutual attachment between dogs and horses have 
been recorded. The celebrated English horse Eclipse 
contracted a strong friendship with a sheep. When 
kindly used, the horse will demonstrate towards his 
master every mark of submissive attachment. There 
are, it is true, horses of a sullen, obstinate temper, which 
the kindest treatment will not conciliate; but these are 
exceptions to the general rule; man}' horses, we may 
add, have their temper spoiled by injudicious or wanton 
severity, in which case it requires patience and perse- 
verance to reclaim them ; but almost universally, where 
kindness is shown to the horse, his attachment will be 
secured. 

In the tents of the Arabian, the mares with their 
foals, and the masters with their families, dwell all 
together; the master caresses his favorite mare, the 
children and the foal play together, and the utmost 
confidence exists between them. The quiet peaceful 
companionship of horses with each other does not obtain 
among the stallions. In a wild state, they have furious 
contests ; and in a domestic state, stallions, if at liberty, 
will fight desperately with each other. 

That the horse possesses more intelligence than has 
been accredited to him is very evident from his readi- 
ness to learn, when properly instructed. The feats he 
is taught to perform in the modern " horse shows " fully 
prove this. Knowledge of time, and memory, are cer- 
tainly possessed by the horse, as a thousand instances 
will prove. A horse accustomed to commence or dis- 
continue work at a certain hour of the day well knows 
the respective periods. Well does the farmer's team 
know the hour of release from labor, as is shown by 
their actions when hearing the horn for dinner. Taken 
to a distance from home, the horse will return, finding 



INTELLIGENCE AND MEMORY OF THE HORSE. 453 

his way during the darkest night. In short, there is 
no lack of evidence to prove that horses are capable of 
entertaining and evincing a large degree of love for 
places as well as for individuals, and of retaining im- 
pressions unimpaired for a long period of time. 

Colonel Hamilton Smith, of the British Army, relates 
a case which proves the memory and attachment of the 
horse : " The Colonel had a charger in his possession 
for two years, which he left with the army, but which 
was brought back and sold in London. About three 
years afterwards the Colonel chanced to be travelling, 
and at a relay, on getting out of the mail coach, the off- 
wheel horse attracted his attention ; on going near to 
examine it with more care he found the animal recog- 
nized him, and testified its satisfaction by rubbing its 
head against him, and making every moment a little 
stamp with its fore-foot, to the surprise of the coach- 
man, who asked if the horse was not an old acquaint- 
ance. It was — it was his own old charger ! " 

A lady, remarkable for benevolence to the brute 
creation, observed from her garden-gate one day a 
miserable horse, with its shoulder raw and bleeding, 
attempting to graze upon an open spot adjacent ; having, 
by means of some bread, coaxed the poor animal to the 
gate, she then managed, w T ith some assistance, to cover 
the wound with adhesive plaster spread upon a piece 
of soft leather. The man to whom the animal belonged 
(one of those ignorant and careless beings who are 
indifferent to the sufferings of any but themselves) 
shortly afterwards led the horse away. The next day, 
however, the horse made his appearance again at the 
gate, over which he put his head and gently neighed. 
On looking at him it was found that the plaster was 
removed, either by the animal's master, or by the rub- 



454 PRACTICAL HORSE TRAINING. 

bing of the ill-made collar in which he worked. The 
plaster was renewed. The third day he appeared again, 
requiring the same attention, which he solicited in a 
similar manner. After this the plaster was allowed to 
remain, and the horse recovered ; but ever after, when 
it saw its benefactress, it would immediately approach 
her, and by voice and action testify its sense of her 
kindness and notice. This anecdote, the truth of which 
is undoubted, proves how sensible the horse is of humane 
treatment, and how grateful for benefits bestowed. 

Kind treatment and every care are due to an animal 
from whose services man derives such important bene- 
fits; but too often does man forget that he has a duty 
to perform, not only towards his fellow-man, but towards 
those domestic animals which Providence has intrusted 
to him for his welfare. 



THE APPARATUS FOR TRAINING. 
The appliances used in training horses by our new 
system are both cheap and simple. A common rope 
halter, a three or four ply cotton cord about twelve feet 
long, and a piece of line webbing, are all the imple- 
ments required in training colts. 

The Rope Halter — This should be made rather 
heavier and longer than those used upon broken horses, 
and so arranged, by tying a knot or otherwise, that it 
does not slip up so tightly as to pinch the animal's 
nose. 

The Cord. — This is nothing more than a three or 
four ply rope or cord. The cotton cord is much the 
best, as it works smoothly, and is much softer than any 
other. This cord is not a new feature in horse-training, 



THE APPARATUS FOR TRAINING. 455 

as impostors would have you believe, it having been 
used many years by various tribes of Indians, Mexicans, 
etc. It is mentioned in the Veterinarian of London in 
1828 as used by the North American Indians in sub- 
duing their horses; hence it is known as the Indian 
war bridle. It has also been called the Yankee bridle, 
but the claim to this title is wrapped in some obscurity. 
The use of this simple arrangement is a powerful means 
of controlling horses, when properly used, otherwise it 
is more likely to do harm than good. To prepare the 
cord for use, tie a knot in each end, as seen in the en- 
graving, then make a loop by doubling the cord and 
passing the knot through, as represented by the en- 
graving. 




LOOPING THE CORD. 



These loops should be at such distances from the 
knot as will allow the cord to pass around the neck at 
one end and the lower jaw at the other, passing the 
knot through the loop from the opposite side of the loop 
to where it first passed through in making the lap ; this 
brings the thickness of the cord in the centre of the 
loop. By this means safety is secured, the cord slipping 
easily through, preventing the possibility of its getting 
fast, as it would be likely to do if passed through the 
loop from the same side it originally came through. 
The necessity of this arrangement will be seen on 
applying the cord. We have here two principles 
involved : steady pressure upon the lower jaw; second, 
friction in the mouth, the one stationary in the mouth, 



456 PRACTICAL HORSE TRAINING. 

the other slipping through it. The uses of the loops 
will be explained in their proper places. 




CORD APPLIED ON LOWER JAW. 



The Line Webbing. — Take a piece of worsted web- 
bing, such as is used lor driving-lines, divide it in two 
parts, one piece of sufficient length to encircle the body, 




CORD APPLIED ON NECK. 



Make a loop in one end large enough for the other end 
to pass through, so that, when adjusted, it is sufficiently 
long to tie. The other part of the web needs no loop. 
These two pieces of web are used for various purposes, 
which will be explained as we proceed. 



BAD HABITS OF THE HORSE AND 
HOW TO CONTROL THEM. 



Horses contract habits very easily when improperly 
managed, and transmit them to their offspring. 

" 'Tis easier to prevent than cure." 

Every one at all conversant with the secrets of the 
stable knows how readily habits are contracted by the 
horse, and the difficulty in breaking up such habits 




KICKING. 

when once contracted, by the ordinary methods. Many 
habits of the horse, which in no way owe their origin 
to vice, are often as troublesome and dangerous as those 
which do. 

Kicking in the Stable. — To break up this dangerous 
habit, it is only necessary to place the animal in a stall 

(457) 



458 BAD HABITS 01 THE HORSE. 

closed at the bead, or against a wall, so as to allow him 
no opportunity of jumping into or over the manger. 
Tie his head short and suspend, by a cord at either end, 
a bag of straw, hay, corn husks, or any soft material 
so as to strike the hocks whenever the animal kicks. 
The bag rebounds, striking him upon the hocks; after 
several repetitions the animal is observed to stand and 
tremble ; the bag at this point is to be pulled upon one 
side so that he does not see it, and when the animal 
gets over his excitement try and induce him to kick. 
If you succeed, immediately let the bag go back to its 
former position. Two or three kicks will again quiet 
him, and he trembles as at first. Remove the bag, and 
when his excitement abates, try and induce him to kick 
again. By repeating this a few times the animal is 
thoroughly broken of the habit. Such horses are often 
broken of the habit of kicking in harness, as well as the 
stable, by the same means. 

Kicking Against the Stall.— Kicking against the 
side of the stall is a serious evil. Capped hocks and 
callous enlargements are frequently consequences of this 
habit ; mares more frequently than geldings are subject 
to this vice. Particularly is this the case when placed 
beside other horses. Removal to a box stall, and left 
there unhaltered, will frequently break up the habit. 
When no such conveniences exist, a strap should be 
buckled around the leg above the hock, to which a club 
one and a half and two inches thick, and ten or twelve 
inches long, covered with a woollen cloth, or other soft 
material, so as not to hurt the animal, should be attached 
in such a manner as to hang loosely against the shank 
bone; with this appendage the moment the animal 
kicks, this club punishes it by coming sharply in con- 



KICKING WHILE HARNESSING. 459 

tact with the leg, but does not bruise it. The animal 
soon learns that by keeping the leg still he escapes the 
punishment which follows every effort to kick. 

Kicking While Harnessing. — This habit is ac- 
quired by bad management in the early training of the 
horse; rough handling, throwing the harness too 
quickly upon its back before it becomes thoroughly 
accustomed to its feel, are sufficient causes to produce 
this habit in the colt of a highly nervous temperament. 
The more quietly you go about such an animal, the 
more readily and willingly will he yield obedience to 
your desires. To break up this habit the cord is called 
into requisition : put the small loop over the under 
jaw, take your position upon the near side, opposite the 
shoulder, pass the cord over the neck from the offside, 
and carry it through the loop around the under jaw; 
now draw it up tightly and take a half-hitch, so as to 
keep the head in a confined position (represented in 
engraving page 456), keep the cord in your hand, so in 
case of the animal rearing you can slip the hitch and 
let the head loose. You should then give him a few 
quick jerks ; this diverts his attention ; you now quietly 
take up the harness in your hands, and as quietly ap- 
proach, and put it upon him. Should he attempt to 
kick, slip the loop as before, and give him a few more 
sharp pulls upon the cord ; this disconcerts him. Re- 
peat this lesson a few times, and he will soon learn to 
stand quiet while you are harnessing him. 

Kicking While Grooming. — Horses of a high 
nervous temperament are frequently addicted to this 
habit. This, like kicking in harness, is brought on by 
careless or rough handling. Here, too, the cord is a 



460 



BAD HABITS OF THE HORSE. 



powerful instrument of control. Having secured the 
head, use the brush and currycomb in the most gentle 
manner for several days, particularly about such parts 
as he manifests the most tenderness. 




Kicking in Single Harness. — Previous to putting 
the animal in harness, take the cord, put the small loop 
over the under jaw, pass the rope over the neck from 
the offside and through the small loop upon the near 



KICKING IN DOUBLE HARNESS. 



461 



side ; give him a few quick pulls, which calls his atten- 
tion to you. Put the harness upon him, having a ring 
or loop upon the top of the bridle B and a ring H 
secured to the back strap, about six inches from the 
crupper. You now take a small bit, attach to either 
ring a strong leathern strap about half an inch wide, 
pass these straps A, A, A, A, up over the face to the 
ring B in the bridle, down through the terrots in the 
saddle, and back through the ring H, then bring them 
down at right angles, across the quarters and secure 




STRAPS ON KICKING HOUSE. 



them to the shafts on either side, in such a manner as 
not to interfere with the animal in travelling. With 
this arrangement properly adjusted, the moment the 
horse attempts to kick, the strap is drawn tight over 
the quarters, at the same time it jerks up the head 
forcibly, punishing the animal at each attempt to kick. 

Kicking in Double Harness,— First use the cord 
upon the animal until he will yield his head on the 



462 BAD HABITS OF THE HORSE. 

slightest pull upon the cord; put on a halter, which 
should be a good strong leather one, having a strong 
lead, and ring F, (see engraving on page 460) so ad- 
justed as to slip under the girth. Have two strong 
straps with rings, on the plan of a dog collar. These 
are to be buckled around the leg above the hocks, D, D, 
a strong leathern strap fastened to the rings D, passing 
through the ring F, well secured, so as to be tense when 
the animal is standing square : now check him up, and 
he is ready to hitch up for the start. This arrangement 
doe's not interfere materially with his travelling, yet it 
reproves him whenever he attempts to kick, and he 
soon gives up the habit. 

Kicking While Shoeing. — This, like most other 
habits, is brought on by bad management. The colt, 
upon first entering the shoeing shop, should be used 
with the greatest gentleness and kindness. Any devi- 




CONTROL, WHILF SHOEING — FIRST METHOD. 

ation from this rule often causes the colt to resist all 
efforts to shoe it. Particularly is this the case with the 
hind feet. The habit once established requires the 



KICKING WHILE SHOEING. 463 

utmogt care and perseverance to overcome the evil. 
Ordinary cases of resistance while shoeing may be 
brought to terms by the use of the cord alone. To do 
this, put the small loop over the under jaw, pass it over 
the neck, and through the loop upon the opposite side, 
draw the cord tight, and take a half-hitch; you will 
then take up the foot. Should he resist, slip the hitch, 
and give him a few quick jerks upon the cord, and then 
renew the hitch. If he still refuses to let you have the 
foot, repeat the operation. If he then resists, put a 
collar around his neck, slip the long web through the 




CONTROL WHILE SHOEING — SECOND METHOD. 

collar, carry it back, and around the fetlock of the foot 
you wish to handle, bring it back through the collar, 
holding the end in your right hand; now pull-up the 
foot and hold it until he ceases to resist; then take the 
web in your hand close to the foot and pull the foot in 
different directions, until he ceases to resist your efforts ; 
then caress him. Recollect, gentleness and kindness 
go a great way in gaining the confidence of the animal. 
When he gives you the foot readily, take a hammer and 
tap upon it very gently. If he resists, jerk him sharply 
a few times with the cord ; if he still resists, remove 



464 BAD HABITS OF THE HORSE. 

the long web, then take a short hold upon the halter 
with your left hand, and with a quick motion catch 
the tail with the right hand, and swing him around a 
few times, by quickly bringing the head towards you. 
This so disconcerts him that he usually yields the foot 
without further resistance. For safety it is always 
better to put the web on again for one or two handlings. 
Properly managed you will seldom fail in breaking up 
this habit in from four to six days. 

Horses Ugly to Shoe in Front. — Take the short 
web, put it on the foot (at the fetlock) you wish to 
handle, pass it over the back from the opposite side ; 
now pull the foot up and hold it there until the animal 
ceases his efforts to get it away, then tap lightly with a 
hammer upon the foot, increasing the force of the blow 
gradually, until he will allow you to strike upon the 
foot as hard as may be necessary ; then let the foot 
down, pick it up with the hand ; if he resist, draw it up 
again with the web ; and so repeat until he yields it 
readily and willingly. Usually the animal submits 
his foot in a very short time, unless he becomes excited 
by rough usage. 

Striking. — Some horses have an ugly practice of 
striking with their front feet. To break up this habit 
take the cord, put the small end in the mouth, and jerk 
him from one side to the other ; he will try to strike 
you, but he fails to do so if you give him sufficient 
length of cord; he soon finds he is overmatched, and 
yields to you readily. By using the long foot-strap or 
web, placed around the near fore foot, then passed under 
the girth and carried back, having an assistant at the 
animal's head to lead him, as soon as he steps pull up 



BALKING. 40*> 




THE LONG FOOT-STEAP. 



the foot, let it drop and pull it up again at the next 
effort to step or strike. This teaches him that he cannot 
use the foot as he would like, and he ceases to make 
the effort. 

Balking. — This is the most aggravating of all the 
habits to which the horse is subject ; it tries the patience 
of man to the utmost ; yet, by patience and perse- 
verance, with proper management, even this habit can 
be broken up. It is rarely we find a balky horse which 
is not a good one. They are usually very hardy, high- 
spirited, quick of comprehension, and of a strong 
nervous temperament. They resist because we have 
failed to make them understand what we require of 
them, or it may occur from overloading, sore shoulders, 
or working until tired out. Particularly is this the 
case with young animals To whip under such circum- 
stances only excites them to more determined resistance. 

On the first attempt of your horse to balk, get out of 
the wagon, pat him upon the neck, examine the har- 
ness carefully, first upon one side then upon the other, 
speaking encouragingly to the animal while doing so ; 



466 BAD HABITS OF THE HORSE. 

then jump in the wagon and give the word to go : 
generally he will obey ; if he refuses to do so, take him 
out of the shafts, put up the traces so that they do not 
drag upon the ground, then take him by the head and 
tail, reel him until he is almost ready to fall, then hook 
him up again, and give him the word to go ; this rarely 
fails, it takes- that sullen spirit out of them, and they 
start at the word. I have failed but once in handling 
balky horses, though I have handled a large number of 
them. By repeating the same operation every day for 
a week, usually breaks up this most perplexing habit 
thoroughly and permanently. 

Another method which often proves successful, is to 
tie the tail of the horse fast to the shaft-bar, unloose 
the traces, securing them so that they will not get 
under his feet. Now start him up ; as soon as he finds 
his tail fast he will pull the wagon by that appendage ; 
repeating this a few times will often cure the habit. 

Another method still will sometimes prove successful ; 
instead of tying the tail to the shaft-bar, take it between 
the hind-legs, having a cord secured to the end, and 
tie it to the saddle-girth ; this will often answer the 
same purpose. 

A very simple method which the writer has tried 
many times, with uniform success, is to tie a piece of 
cord rather tightly around the horse's ear, close to the 
head. He will start at once, and a few applications 
have been known to break up the habit entirely. 

Shying Horses. — Those who are in the habit of 
riding or driving along frequented roads, or through 
thickly populated cities, can best estimate the incon- 
venience, annoyance and constant apprehension occa- 
sioned by a shying horse. While travelling along with 



SHYING HORSES. 4f>7 

an air of the greatest unconcern, all in an instant, 
planting himself in an attitude of affright, he comes to 
a dead stop, or flies the road. Of the sensation of the 
animal at such a time, we will not venture a descrip- 
tion, but we know by experience what those of the 
driver or rider are. Shying in horses is no doubt the 
off-sj)ring of fear. Fear is the emotion excited by sus- 
picion, apprehension, appearance or approach of danger. 
This may be denominated native timidity, giving rise to 
that kind of shyness with which colts, and young ani- 
mals generally, are endowed. There is another kind 
of shyness which we may denominate acquired. To 
illustrate, a colt is naturally shy at any object of im- 
posing appearance, either novel or strange to him. 
On the other hand, he beholds an object that is familiar 
to him, which he associates with some former suffering. 
We do not mean to assert that these manifestations of 
fear are alike, further than that they arise from the 
impressions made upon the brain, a dread or conscious- 
ness of danger, in the one case acquired, in the other 
congenital. Shyness may be attributed to a third cause, 
imperfect vision. A horse whose eyesight is imperfect 
is apt to shy at objects in consequence of not seeing 
them properly. The disposition to shy arising from 
either of the above causes, is often increased by the acts 
of the driver ; for instance, (a very common one), a 
man is driving a young horse upon the road, he meets 
an object of fear to the animal, and, as he approaches 
it, starts suddenly out of the road, his driver instantly 
commences a round of castigation with the whip, in 
w T hich he persists until the Iiorse as well as himself, 
have lo:t their temper, and then, while one whips, the 
other jumps, plunges, frets, etc. The next object of fear 
the animal meets recalls the whipping previously 



468 BAD HABITS OF THE HORSE. 

inflicted upon him, and associates it with the object he 
fears; shies and starts with even more alarm than be- 
fore, sometimes attempting to run away. 

Gentleness and persuasion are the best means of 
breaking up this habit; let the animal stand and look 
at the object he fears, speak to him encouragingly, and 
gradually he will approach it. After he has passed it, 
turn him around, passing the object slowly several 
times, and his fear vanishes. By thus gently managing 
him, he soon places confidence in you, and a gentle 
word from the driver will induce him to move on by 
the object. It is an old saying, that the most effectual 
way to make a cowardly dog fight is to put him in 
front of his antagonist, in such a way that he cannot 
retreat; but we never heard any one recommend that 
he be whipped at the same time ; yet we whip a horse 
for being afraid to do that which we desire him to do. 
Reason and experience both forbid the practice. It is 
our duty to act mercifully towards an animal so noble, 
so beautiful, and so useful to man. Contemptible 
indeed is that being who disregards the plaintive mur- 
murs and ineffectual resistance of the poor beast which 
chance has thrown into his possession. 

" Weaving." — This is an unsightly habit, but not 
of so much consequence as either of the foregoing. It 
consists in the animal moving his head and fore- 
quarters in quick succession from one side of the stall 
to the other, like the action of a weaver's shuttle, or 
like the hyena in his cage, The animal stands with 
his fore feet wide apart, hence the motion of the animal 
throws the weight of its body alternately upon the 
inside of each fore foot. The effect of this habit is to 
turn the inside quarter of the feet downwards and 



CRIBBING. 469 

inwards at the heel, forming, as it were, a kind of club- 
foot. This habit indicates a restless disposition, ex- 
pressing impatience at being tied up. 

To break up the habit, it is only necessary to turn 
the animal loose into a box-stall. 

Cribbing. — This is a very disagreeable habit, to say 
the least, but not so serious as it is often represented. 
The effects of an inveterate crib-biting horse are plainly 




CRIBBING MUZZLE. 



perceptible upon the incisor (nippers) teeth. The crib- 
bing muzzle is the best means of breaking up the habit. 

Biting. — This is a hateful habit, or, more properly, 
a vice of the worst kind. It is sometimes acquired 
from foolishly teasing the animal in the stable by mis- 
chievous boys. Love of mischief is a propensity too 
easily acquired, and often becomes a confirmed vice; 
particularly is this the case with biting horses. One 
of our greatest horse trainers had a recent experience 
which he thus relates : " Last September (1888) my 



470 BAD HABITS OF THE HORSE. 

advice was asked regarding a young stallion which 
had always been known as a remarkably good dispo- 
sitioned animal, but, some four or five months previous 
some boys amused themselves by teasing him. He 
soon acquired the habit of biting, and almost simul- 
taneously, that of striking. Regarding the former vice 
— one of the most dangerous and the most difficult of 
all vices to break up — I advised castration ; the owner 
approving, I operated upon him on the spot. Instead 
of curing the habit, he from this time became notori- 
ously vicious, two men narrowly escaping with their 
lives from the infuriated animal. He finally became 
so confirmed in his vicious propensities, it was worth a 
man's life to approach him. The owner, whose name 
I omit by request, called upon me to handle this animal, 
which I did early last month (February). My efforts 
were attended with entire success. I first drew his 
head down close to the manger from an opening in the 
partition, having his head well secured. The stable- 
door was thrown open. I then approached his head 
cautiously, and put my rope halter upon him. I now 
tied a knot in his tail, slipped the halter lead through 
the hair above the knot, drew the lead up as far as pos- 
sible, so as to draw the head to one side, and tied the 
halter lead by a half-hitch to the tail; this prevented 
the animal going in a straight line, and enabled me to 
keep out of his way. I now slipped the head halter, 
previously upon him, and drove him out of the stable. 
The moment he gained the yard I was after him, tick- 
ling him upon the hind-legs with a whip. This set 
him wild with rage, and caused him to move in a 
circular direction quite rapidly. I kept up this action 
until he began to stagger; T quickly caught the halter 
at the head to prevent his falling, and, before he had 



RUNNING AWAY. 



473 



time to recover himself, T tightened the halter so as to 
bring the head and tail" nearer together. I again started 
him, he reeled more rapidly, and came near falling; 
I caught the end of the halter, slipped the hitch, and 
before he had time to recover, I had the small end of 
the cord nicely adjusted in his mouth. I then com- 
menced to pull him right and left, and in a few minutes 
he was as quiet as a lamb, following me readily in any 
direction. He was handled by the owner in the same 
manner for several days. I recently heard from him; 
he remained perfectly tractable." 

Running Away. — Some horses, of an excitable or 
headstrong disposition, will make frequent efforts to 
get away with their drivers, and when they once suc- 




ceed are very apt to try it over again. Such animals 
must be trained upon the mouth. To do this effectually, 
take the cord, using the large loop, over the neck, 
placing the cord in the mouth, and back through the 
loop. You now pull quickly and sharply upon the 
cord, this sets the horse back, and causes the mouth to 



472 BAD HABITS OF THE HORSE. 

become tender. You then go behind him, pulling 
quick upon the cord. Handle him several times in 
this waj before putting him in harness ; he soon yields 




TEMPERING THE MOUTH. 



promptly to the slightest pull upon the cord. \ ou 
may now harness him up ; and, as a matter of safoty, 




TAKING UP THE FOOT. 



put the long web around the near foot, and give i\ in 
charge of a# assistant ; let him take the end of it iuto 



RUNNING AWAY. 



473 



the buggy. With him, you start on your journey ; if 
the animal attempts to run, pull upon the lines, and 
he will generally come down to his usual gait. Should 
he not obey this gentle warning, let your assistant take 




up his foot by pulling the web. This throws him upon 
three feet, and prevents his running. Another method, 
more convenient and equally effectual, is the apparatus 
used for kicking horses, with this difference, instead of 
fastening the ring which passes under the girth to the 



474 



BAD HABITS OF THE HORSE. 



halter, secure it to the collar. With this arrangement 
upon him, a horse cannot run. It is not necessary to 
have the straps as heavy as for a kicking horse. 




STKAPS OX RUNAWAY HOKSE. 



Refusing to Stand While Getting into a Carriage. 

— This habit is very easily broken up. Use the cord 
upon the mouth, have it long enough to hold in your 




CORD USED UPON THE MOUTH. 



HARD PULLERS OR LUGGERS ON THE BIT. 475 

hand when seated in the vehicle; while you are enter- 
ing the carriage, if the horse starts, jerk lightly upon 
the cord ; if he does not obey, bring him back forcibly 
by a quick, strong jerk on the cord. This soon teaches 
him to stand until you are ready for him to start. 

Hard Pullers or Luggers on the Bit — To break 
up this habit, use the cord in the same manner as upon 
a runaway horse, or have a pair of straps about twelve 
inches long, with a ring at one end and a buckle at the 
other ; pass these straps through the ring of the bit on 
either side, carry them up on the side of the face, and 
buckle to the head-piece of the bridle, which must be 
a strong one; buckle the lines to the rings on these 
straps, instead of the rings in the bit. This forms a 
gag, similar to the French twitch gag, and is a powerful 
means of controlling the mouth of a hard-pulling horse. 

Ugly to Bridle. — Some horses are ugly to bridle 
from having been knocked or roughly handled about 
the head. Horses are occasionally troubled with sore 
ears, or have some tenderness about the mouth or head. 
Such animals refuse to be bridled from fear of being 
hurt. Nothing but kindness and careful handling 
will accomplish our purpose in such cases. Where 
the habit arises from previous injury or ugliness of 
disposition, take the cord, put the small end into the 
mouth, draw it tightly, and take a half-hitch. This 
confines the head, preventing the animal from raising 
it. In this position, the horse will allow you to put on 
and take off the bridle at pleasure. After putting it 
on and removing it several times, loosen up the cord, 
and repeat the bridling ; every time the animal resists, 
draw the cord tightly ; on the contrary, when he yields, 
caress him ; you thus gain his confidence. 



476 BAD HABITS OF THE HORSE. 

Lolling the Tongue. — Some horses have a habit of 
carrying the tongue out of one side of the mouth. This 
is generally confined to narrow-jawed horses, the space 
between the molar teeth being too narrow to contain 
the tongue in the mouth when the bit presses upon it, 
without coming in contact with the edges of the molar 
teeth, to prevent which the tongue is thrown out over 
the bit and hangs from one side of the mouth. 

To remedy this defect, take a common bar bit, drill 
a hole on either side, about three-quarters of an inch 
from the centre of the bit, from the upper surface ; then 
take a piece of sole leather, four inches long and two 
inches wide, sprinkle it over with pulverized rosin and 
burn it into the leather — this renders it proof against 
the action of the saliva in the mouth ; now drill two 
holes in the centre of the leather corresponding to those 
in the bit, and secure both together by rivets, so that 
the leather extends two inches above the bit and two 
inches below it; this, put into the mouth, keeps the 
tongue down clear of the molar teeth, and prevents the 
animal getting it over the bit. A horse which lolls 
the tongue should never be driven with a snaffle bit; 
a bar bit is always preferable. 

Hugging the Pole. — This is a great annoyance to 
the other horse, and he will probably learn to do the 
same thing, not from imitation, but from leaning 
inwards so as to enable him to stand against the other 
leaning on him. I have seen a pair of horses thus 
going, each leaning on the other, rendering it extremely 
dangerous in frosty weather, or where the road from 
any cause may be slipper}'. 

This habit may be broken up by securing a piece of 
rfole leather to the pole upon the side where the animal 



HALTER PULLLN®. 477 

leans, having a number of tacks driven through it in 
such a manner as to protrude from the leather towards 
the horse. The moment he attempts to hug the pole, 
the tacks prick him, and he leaves it in a moment and 
takes his proper position. He makes but few efforts 
after the first punishment; a few day's driving in this 
manner, usually cures him of the habit. 

Halter Pulling. — This is a bad habit, often con- 
tracted by bad management on the part of those having 
the care of young animals. However, the habit may 
be easily broken up by the exercise of a little care and 
patience. For this purpose we use an ordinary rope 
halter, with a lead long enough to pass through the 
halter-ring then back between the fore legs and under 




TO PREVENT HALTER PULLING. 



a surcingle, and tie with a slip-knot to one of the hind 
feet ; be careful that the halter ring is strong enough 
to resist the pull ; now put him back, and as he pulls, 
the halter draws both ways, upon the head and on the 
hind foot; he rarely makes more than two or three 



478 



BAD HABITS OP THE HORSE. 



attempts to pull back. You may now approach him, 
and try your best to set him back, whip him over the 
nose, throw your hat in his face, a buffalo, or any other 
object which he may fear, and all will fail to set him 
back ; repeat this a few times, and he will give up the 
habit. When in harness it is not safe to hitch him 
thus, as it gives him an opportunity to pull himsell 
down ; it is, therefore, better to tie the halter around 
the body, back of the shoulders, instead of tying it to 




PULLING ON THE HALTER. 

the foot; if he pulls now, he pulls against Lis foi*e 
arms, but it does not take him off his feet. Another 
plan is to tie a knot in the tail so that it will not slip, 
then divide the hairs in the middle above the knot, 
and pass the end of the halter through the opening and 
tie it, so that when he pulls it brings the tail between 
the hind legs; thus fixed he pulls upon his head and 
tail. Either of these plans will effectually break up 
the habit. 



FEAR AND MONOMANIA IN HORSES. 



Some horses are naturally far more timid than others, 
and take alarm at objects which in others produce no 
fear. We have seen horses dreadfully agitated during 
a thunder-storm ; while, on the contrary, we have ob- 
served some apparently indifferent to the flashes and 
roar. In cases where horses are in stables on fire fear 
appears to paralyze their powers, so that it is very diffi- 
cult to rescue them, unless they be first blindfolded, 
which should always be done. 

Fear of certain particular objects often becomes so 
marked, and is so unaccountable, that it must be 
regarded as a sort of monomania. The same remark 
applies to certain antipathies that have been known to 
exist, without any apparent exciting cause. The fol- 
lowing well-authenticated instances of such cases will 
be of interest in this connection : 

During the late rebellion an officer in an Ohio regi- 
ment possessed a beautiful, and in other respects a most 
serviceable mare, but which one peculiarity rendered 
at times exceedingly dangerous for the saddle ; she had 
a decided aversion for paper, which she immediately 
recognised the moment she saw it. The effect produced 
by the sight or sound of it was so prompt and so vio- 
lent, that, in many cases, she unhorsed her rider; and 
in one case, his foot being entangled in tne stirrup, she 
dragged him a considerable way over a stony road. In 
other respects, this mare had not the slightest fear of 
objects that would terrify most horses. She regarded 

(479) 



480 FEAR AND MONOMANIA IN HORSES. 

not the music of the band, the whistling of the balls, 
the roaring of the cannon, the Are of the bivouacs, or 
the glittering of arms. The confusion and noise of an 
engagement made no impression upon her ; the sight 
.of no other white object affected her ; no other sound 
was regarded ; the view or the rustling of paper alone 
aroused her to madness. 

Another case relates to a mare which is now owned 
by a gentleman residing in Crawford County, Pennsyl- 
vania : She is perfectly manageable, and betrays no 
antipathy to the human being nor to other animals, 
nor to horses, except those of a light gray color; but 
the moment she sees a gray horse, she rushes upon it 
and attacks it with the greatest fury. It is the same 
at all times and everywhere. She is all that could 
be wished on the road, under the saddle, and in the 
stable ; but such is her hatred towards gray or white 
horses, that it is dangerous to place them in the same 
stable with her at whatever distance. If she once catches 
a glimpse of one, whether horse or mare, she rests not 
until she has thrown her rider or broken her halter, 
and then she rushes upon it with the greatest fury, and 
bites it in a thousand places. She generally, however, 
seizes the animal by the head or throat and holds it so 
fast that she would suffocate it if it were not promptly 
released from her bite. No other white body appears 
to make the least impression on her. 

Another mare, which was owned by one of Sheridan's 
troopers, feared all white inanimate objects, such as 
white rnantl?s or cloaks, and particularly white plumes. 
When any of these white bodies, and especially in 
motion, were suddenly perceived, if they were of any 
magnitude and their motion was rapid, she was in a 
dreadful fright, and strove to escape ; but if they were 



FEAR AND MONOMANIA IN HORSES. 481 

of no great size, and moved more gently, she rushed 
furiously upon them, struck at them with her fore feet, 
and endeavored to tear them with her teeth. No other 
colors produced the slightest effect upon her, nor did 
the appearance, however sudden, of white horses or 
<\>gs of the same color ; but if a white plume waved, or 
a white sheet of paper floated by her, her fear or rage 
fas ungovernable. 
These cases must be regarded as instances of true 




TEACHING THE HORSE TO STAND. 



monomania. It is remarkable that in each instance 
the subject of this singular frenzy was a mare. Some 
animals are very much alarmed at the sight of a buffalo- 
robe, an umbrella, etc. To break up these habits re- 
quires more care than is usually required for other 
habits. 

The method of treatment consists in enforcing a 
closer acquaintance with the object feared, thus grad- 
ually diminishing, and finally extinguishing, the dread 
which primarily exists. Take the cord, put the small 



482 PEAR AND MONOMANIA IN HORSES. 

loop in the mouth, place the object of fear at a distance. 
Lead the animal as near it as possible and have an 
assistant to raise the object off the ground ; if the animal 
attempts to get away from it, jerk him sharply from 
side to side a few times ; then have your assistant ap 
proach very slowly with the object of fear, and each 
time the animal flies from it, jerk him as before, and 
so repeat until he will allow you to approach near 
enough to rub him on the nose. If it be a buffalo-robe, 




THE HALTER PULLER. 



stroke him upon the neck, gradually put it on his back, 
take it off and put it on again ; repeat until he stands 
perfectly quiet. Now approach him from another 
direction; if he starts up again as at first, jerk him in 
the same manner, and repeat every day until he will 
allow you to approach him from any direction. A week 
or ten days is sufficient to break up the habit thoroughly, 
if properly managed. 
Another very good method is using the halter as 



FEAR AND MONOMANIA IN HORSES. 



483 



arranged for halter pulling. Having the animal ready, 
take the buffalo-robe on your arm, approach as near as 
possible without causing the horse to pull back, stand 
a moment, and when the animal gets over the tempo- 
rary excitement, gradually approach it ; the horse now 
pulls upon the halter, and comes back to his proper 
place; in five minutes, generally, he will stand and 
allow you to put the buffalo on him in any way you 
please. Occasionally we find a case that does not yield 




TRYING TO GET AWAY. 



readily. Under such circumstances, the cord, small 
end, should be applied in addition to the halter Now 
approach him gradually, if he does not stand quietly, 
give him a quick, sharp pull upon the cord. Take the 
cord off, leaving the halter upon him; lay the buffalo 
on the floor before the animal, and leave him to examine 
it for an hour or two ; now hang it over the back part 
of the manger, and leave him again in the same manner; 



484 FEAR AND MONOMANIA IN HORSE'S. 

then hang it up in the entry before him, so that he can 
view it at a short distance, then change its position, 
hang it up behind him; finally you may put it over 
his back ; and secure it with a surcingle. By changing 
it in this manner he becomes familiar with its appear- 
ance in any position. A horse will often see an object 
in one position and not notice it ; but place the same 
object in a different position, and the animal becomes 
alarmed. One day usually is sufficient to break up 
this habit, completely and thoroughly. 



BREAKING AND TRAINING OF COLTS. 



Haltering. — To do this without the colt offering 
resistance, it is necessary to drive him into a cow-stall 
or other convenient place. You will now (with your 
hand if you can reach him, otherwise with a stick of 
sufficient length) touch him gently upon the quarter ; 




HALTERING THE COLT. 



this will cause him to start up, and perhaps to turn 
around in the stall. Do not attempt to prevent his 
doing so, or you increase his excitement, which at all 
times should be carefully avoided. You will then 
repeat the operation, and in a few minutes he will stand 
quietly and allow you to stroke him with your hand, 
or stick ; gradually pass the hand or stick up over his 
back, as he will bear it, until you reach his head ; if 

(486) 



486 BREAKING AND TRAINING OF COLTS. 

he attempts to get away, do not try to prevent his doing 
so, as you will fail in the attempt. As soon as he will 
allow you to stroke his head, take up an ordinary rope 
halter, such as are used upon colts, pull out the lead so 
as to form a good sized loop, place it on the end of a 
stick, and hold it towards him ; let him smell it, and, 
as he does so, let his nose pass through the loop ; raise 
the upper part of the halter over his head, then turn 
the stick and the halter will fall back of the colt's ears. 
Slipup the lead and you have him fast ; now place the 
lead over his neck and secure it by a slip-knot, so as to 
keep him from treading on it. Open the stall-door and 
let him go out. Now drive" him into a carriage-house, 
or some other suitable place, not more than twenty-five 
or thirty feet square ; you then approach him ; he runs 
to a corner; take a pole six or eight feet long, and 
commence as before by touching him on the quarter; 
and as the pole approaches the neck, close up gradually 
until you can put your hand upon him ; you will then 
dispense w r ith the pole, slip the knot in the halter, and 
remove the lead from his neck. 

You nowhaveoneend of the halter, the colt the other; 
you want to teach him to lead. You take your position 
a little quartering from his body, and nearly opposite 
his shoulder, you say, " Come here, sir;" your colt pays 
no attention to your command, because he does not 
understand you; give the halter a quick, sharp pull, 
which brings the colt towards you. The instant you 
pull, let the halter slack — this prevents him from 
pulling back; if you keep your lead tight, he learns 
that he is fast, and he will pull in spite of all your 
efforts to prevent his doing so; repeat this operation 
several times, always using the words " Come here." 
Your colt will soon learn to follow you in the one 



HITCHING THE COLT IN THE STABLE. 487 

direction. You then go to the opposite side and teach 
him to follow in the same manner ; he must be handled 
from both sides, or he will obey but one. He now 
follows to the right or left. You want him to go for- 
wards ; take your position a little to one side, but 
slightly in advance of his head ; give your halter a 
sharp, quick pull, and as your colt steps forward, stop 
and caress him ; repeat this a few times, and he will 
follow you in any direction. 

Hitching the Colt in the Stable. — Lead him into 
an ordinary stall four and a half feet wide, having pre- 
viously fitted a movable bar at the back of the stall 
about three feet and a half from the floor, or, if more 
convenient, a good strong rope, well secured, will 
answer the purpose — Let it be about the same distance 
from the floor. After leading the colt into the stall, 
put up this bar or rope, and then tie the colt to the 
manger- ring ; if you tie him first he will in all proba- 
bility run back before you can have the bar or rope 
secured in their place; and then the halter gives way, 
and you have taught the colt the first lesson in halter- 
pulling, which under all circumstances should be care- 
fully avoided. In taking the colt out of the stable the 
same precaution must be used. Untie the halter before 
removing the bar or rope. Continue this precaution 
for about ten days or two weeks, and by that time, as a 
general rule, the colt will stand hitched anywhere. 

Training Colts to Harness.— To break a colt suc- 
cessfully, requires a man who has inexhaustible 
patience, great presence of mind, strong nerve, etc., in 
a word, a man who can control himself can train a horse to 
harness so as to prevent his contracting any bad habits. 



488 BREAKING AND TRAINING OF COLTS. 

With such indispensable attributes and proper appli- 
ances a man of ordinary intelligence can train a horse 
to harness without accident to the animal, himself, or 
others. Always train a colt with an open bridle, so that 
he may see exactly what you are doing ; using the blind 
bridle prevents the animal from seeing your move- 
ments, and unless you use great care and judgment, 
you are apt to alarm the colt from the least misplaced 
movement. Let a man recollect how surprised, and in 
some cases alarmed, he feels on anything touching him 
behind. The same is the case with the horse where he 
does not see the object. We may say it was only the 
end of the trace that touched him ; how is he to know 
this if he does not see it ? A man standing in the street 
would turn as quickly round if a harmless sheep 
touched him, as if it were some more formidable animal. 
We must, therefore, be careful not to alarm or confuse 
the horse. Do everything in the most gentle and per- 
suasive manner; if you do anything which frightens 
your colt, he never forgets it. Take time, and teach 
each point in training thoroughly; remember, that 
which is done hurriedly, is done badly. 

Harnessing. — Horses, whether young or old, some- 
times have an aversion to going in harness ; such ani- 
mals show their unwillingness by kicking, balking, 
rearing, running back, or, perhaps, running away. To 
prevent such habits being developed, take the colt, after 
being thoroughly halter-broken, by the head and tail, 
reel him a few times, and you can put the harness upon 
him ; by this means you disconcert him, he will not 
then resist you ; place him in the stable with the har- 
ness upon him, and leave him there a few hours, so 
that he may become accustomed to it. Then bring 



TRA3NJH& TQ &!©¥. 489 

him out, take the lines behind him, having an assistant 
at his head, and teach him thoroughly the use of the 
reins, turning him to the right and to the left, until he 
will obey the slightest pull upon the reins ; after having 
him so that he will start at the word, turn to the right 
or to the left, by a pull upon the line ; he is ready for 
the word "Whoa!" 

Training to Stop. — This is the most important word 
used in horse-training ; it is our safeguard in case of 
accident ; the animal, therefore, should learn its mean- 
ing thoroughly. To prevent confusion in his mind, 
the word should never be used out of its proper place. 
If we approach a horse standing quietly in the stable, 
we should never use the word whoa, though it is very 




whoa! 

generally used on such occasions. Use instead the 
words " Get over," " Go over," " Quietly," or any other 
word you please, to make the animal aware of your 
presence; but under no circumstances use the word 
whoa, except when the animal is in motion, and you 
want bim to stop. In order to properly teach him the 



490 BREAKING AND TRAINING OF COLTS. 

meaning of the word whoa, put the long web around 
the near fore foor, pass it under the girth, and as the 
animal walks along, pull up the foot, at the same time 
say whoa; by repeating this, you will soon see him 
raise the foot when the word is given, even though the 
web be not pulled upon. Horses thus trained are safe 
in case a rein or bit should break, as they will gener- 
ally stop at the word, under almost any circumstances. 
A friend of mine trained his horse to stop by simply 
catching hold of the tail. 

Learning to Back. — Put the cord upon the horse, 
using the small loop; draw it up with a steady pull — 
this brings the animals nose towards his body. Keep 
a firm hold upon the cord until he steps back a little, 
using at the same time the word " Back," then caress 
him ; you thus teach him that he has done exactly what 




LEARNING TO BACK. 



you wished him to do ; then repeat caressing him each 
time he obeys. Care must be used not to excite the 
colt too much or you will have him resist you ; there- 



HITCHING TO THE WAGON. 491 

fore, do not continue your lesson more than five or ten 
minutes at any one time ; on repeating the lesson a few 
hours later, the animal will usually yield and back 
freely. Now try him with the line alone; if he obeys, 
you may remove the cord altogether. Occasionally, we 
find an animal which will not yield to this treatment ; 
we then take the short web, put it around the near fore 
foot, carry it over the back from the off-side, have a 
bridle upon the animal, take hold of it close to the bit 
with your left hand on the near side, having the web 
in the right hand, with which to bring up the near fore 
foot, holding it up by the web, now press backwards 
upon the bit ; this brings the body back, and as it does 
so, let the foot fall ; the toe strikes the ground some 
fifteen or eighteen inches behind the opposite foot, and 
as it does so, the off-foot comes back to the same point. 
By repeating this lesson, we teach any horse to back, 
however obstinate he may be. I have never known a 
single instance where it failed. 

Hitching to the Wagon. — In hitching up a colt 
to the wagon for the first time, it is always better that 
you put him alongside of a steady, well-broken horse; 
if you have no opportunity of doing this, let him be- 
come perfectly familiar with the wagon before hitching 
him up single; lead him up to the wagon in the shafts 
of which you intend putting him ; let him examine it 
carefully ; raise the shafts up and down in his presence, 
so as to get him familiar with the motion ; if it be a 
top-buggy, raise and lower the top ; should he behave 
badly, put the cord upon him, using the small end ; 
jerk him ever} 7 time he offers any resistance. Now lead 
him in front of the wagon ; pull it towards him ; should 
he start, jerk him again, and so repeat until you can 



492 BREAKING AND TRAINING OF COLTS. 

pull the wagon up to him. Now raise the shafts and 
let them down quietly over his back ; repeat this opera- 
tion until he will remain perfectly quiet. Now lead 
him up, pulling the wagon behind him. When he will 
bear this nicely, you may hook him fast to the wagon, 
first putting the long web upon the near front foot: 




LONG WEB APPLIED. 



pass it under the girth, and give it to an assistant; get 
into the wagon with your assistant, having previously 
instructed him how to manage the web. Have a second 
assistant to lead the animal a short distance; if he be- 
haves well let him go. With this system, one-half 
hour's handling every day for a week is sufficient to 
break thoroughly to harness the wildest colt. 

Bitting the Colt. — The ordinary process of bitting 
colts is too well known to horsemen generally to need 
any description at my hands. A cheap and easy 
method of bitting colts, if properly managed, is by 
means of the cord, To arch the neck and bring the 
nose in where you want it, take the cord using the small 
loop over the under jaw, pass the cord over the neck 



BITTING THE COLT. 493 

from the off side, and through the loop on the near side. 
Now take your position at the near shoulder, press 




BITTING THE COLT. 



lightly upon the cord ; should the colt resist, let it loose 
for a moment, then press upon it again, and as he yields 
caress him ; by repeating this a few times, say two or 




SETTING UP THE HEAD. 



three times a day as opportunity offers, you will find. 
he soon yields his head nicely. Use the utmost care on 



494 BREAKING AND TRAINING OP COLTS. 

first applying it, or you will excite the colt to resistance. 
When once he learns that he can resist successfully he 
will try it over again. Do not continue the use of the 
cord more than about ten minutes at a time. Now 
change the end of the cord, taking the large loop, pass 
it over the neck, put the cord through the mouth from 
the off side, back through the loop on the near side, 
take your position in front of the animal and pull 
lightly. upon the cord ; this sets his head upas high as 
you want to put it. By repeating this lesson, the colt 
soon learns to get up his head on the slightest touch 
upon the rein. 

To Add Style. — It will be observed in using the 
cord for the purpose of bitting the colt, that the small 
loop brings the chin in towards the body, at the same 
time beautifully arching the neck. The large loop 
having directly the opposite effect, by putting the head 
up in any position desired. This arrangement, applied 
to older horses, with a bad carriage of the head, adds 
at least twenty per cent, to their appearance, and often 
more than that amount to their price. 

Mounting the Colt. — Take your position on the 
near "side of the colt, stand with your right side next 
to the animal, take hold of the mane with your left 
hand, place the toe of the left foot in the stirrup, placing 
the right hand upon the back part of the saddle ; now 
raise yourself up with a quick spring, passing the right 
leg over the saddle, and take your seat; a very little 
practice will enable you to perform this feat with ease 
and in a graceful manner. To place your body fronting 
the side of the animal is a very awkward position, and 
one rendering it much more difficult to mount the 



RIDING THE COLT. 495 

animal. Should the colt not stand well, a few jerks 
with the cord will bring him to his senses, and make 
him stand until you are seated. 

Riding the Colt. — In riding the colt for the first 
time, a common riding bridle without martingale is to 
be preferred. Fasten the short web around the off fore 
foot, take a short hold upon it with the right hand 
while you sit upon his back, holding the bridle-rein in 
the left hand ; should he act badly, pull up the off foot 
with the web, at the same time pat him gently upon 
the neck with the left hand ; there is no danger in 
taking up the foot in this manner, provided you do not 
pull upon the reins at the same time. Let down the 
foot in a few minutes, and turn the colt around several 
times by pulling upon the off rein, then reverse the 
action by pulling upon the near rein ; now turn him 
to the right, then to the left, several times. Should he 
still be restive, take up the foot again, and so repeat 
until he performs his part properly — then do not fail 
to caress him. Make the first lesson a short one, and 
gradually increase it from time to time as occasion may 
require. This method rarely requires the whip, and is 
certainly attended with less danger than the old and 
tedious one of riding: a colt. 



WHIP TRAINING. 



HOW TO TEAIff A HOESE TO DEIVE WITHOUT BIT OB 

LINE. 

Whip training illustrates the beauty and power of 
our modern system of horse education. To train a 
horse thoroughly to drive without bit or line under 
the whip, requires from four to six weeks' time; it 
requires also a man of strong nerve and self-control to be 
a successful trainer in this particular branch. Such a 
feat as driving a horse without bit or line cannot be 
accomplished by any other system known to man. 

Having selected a horse with a moderate share of 
intelligence, the next thing is to secure a suitable place 
for training. An inclosure twent}'-five or thirty feet 
square is required. If you have it smaller, and your 
horse should be disposed to kick, you will be in danger ; 
if larger, it gives the animal too much room to get 
away from the whip. It is better that you go in with 
the horse alone, as then the animal will have no other 
object to take his attention. 

Turn him loose without bridle or halter in the 
inclosure; take your position in the centre, holding in 
your right hand a straight whip nine or ten feet long; 
you crack the whip as you take your position ; this 
alarms the horse and causes him to run into one corner 
of the inclosure ; crack it several times that he may 
learn that you do not intend to hurt him; now com- 
mence tapping him lightly upon the near shoulder, 
but not to hurt him ; if a nervy fellow, he is all excite- 
(496) 



WHIP TRAINING. 497 

ment for a few minutes; continue the tapping until 
he turns his head towards you, which he will do in a 
short time. The moment he turns it, however slight 
it may be, cease the whipping ; as soon as he turns it 
away again repeat the tapping with the whip ; in a few 
minutes he again turns his head towards you ; stop the 
motion of the whip ; as he turns away repeat the whip- 
tapping as before ; in a very short time he turns aiound. 
so that you can approach him ; now gently caress him ; 
move away and again approach him ; should he turn 
away repeat the whipping: by this means you teach 
him to come to you on the near side. 

After he has learned this thoroughly, which requires 
about one week's training, half an hour each day, then 
proceed in the same manner upon the offside; as soon 
as he obeys the motion of the whip upon this side, take 
your position behind him, and turn him by the motion 
of the whip, to the right or to the left; as soon as he 
performs nicely, put the harness upon him, take the 
lines behind him, and, as you give him the word to go 
forward, throw the whip down by his right side with- 
out touching him. At the same time have the long 
web around the near fore foot, and give it to an 
assistant; you want him to stop, give him the word 
whoa; at the same time your assistant pulls up the foot, 
turn the whip in a horizontal position above your head 
—in this way you teach him that the whip in that po- 
sition means whoa. 

By repeating these motions, he learns in about four 
weeks to turn to the right whenever the whip is thrown 
towards the right shoulder ; to the left when thrown 
towards the left shoulder; to go ahead when thrown 
down by the right side ; and to stop when held in a 
horizontal position. 



498 WHIP TRAINING. 

You now want to teach him to back ; having pre- 
viously instructed him according to our rule, put the 
cord, using the small loop, in his mouth ; take the cord 
in your hand with the reins, pull upon the reins, and 
say " Back," at the same time keep the whip directly 
over the animal's back, giving it an upward and down- 
ward motion, or you ma} 7 tap him gently upon the 
back with the whip — this is best done in a sulky. If 
he starts forward, set him back by pulling quickly 
upon the cord ; repeat the operation until he will go 
back by the motion of the whip alone. Should he 
make repeated efforts to go forward, bring the whip 
quickly once or twice down over his nose, he will not 
then repeat the operation very often. 

With this training, it is necessary to use an open 
bridle, so that the animal will see the motions of the 
whip. 

You are now prepared to hook him up for the first 
drive. 

Take an assistant with } t ou ; have the foot-strap or 
long web secured upon the near fore foot; give it in 
charge of your assistant; let the lines lie over the dash 
as a matter of precaution. Now commence operations 
with the whip; if the animal acts promptly, remove 
the foot web, and begin again, having the lines over 
the dash as before; drive the animal in this way at 
least two or three weeks before removing the bit from 
the mouth. Your horse is now safe to drive under the 
whip. 

Of course it is better to use this method of whip 
training with young horses, and those which are 
naturally docile and obedient ; but there are few horses 
so disobedient that they may not be thus controlled at 
any age. 



HOW TO MAKE A HORSE TROT 

"SQUARE." 



Many horses show speed when they strike their gait, 
but do not hold it long. This, in many instances, arises 




from too much anxiety on the part of the driver, forcing 
the horse " off his feet." This is a great source of an- 

(499) 



500 HOW TO MAKE A HORSE TROT "SQUARE." 

noyance to the owners, who in many instances have 
built their hopes very highly upon the great speed of 
their favorite nag. But how often are they doomed to 
disappointment ! the animal is beaten by those of far 
less speed, simply because he " breaks up " badly. 

To prevent this habit in horses, requires some degree 
of patience and good management on the part of the 
trainer. The apparatus used upon this occasion is a 
similar one to that used for kicking horses. The straps 
e e are the same; the halter lead, however is not 
required ; use instead a strap passed through the collar; 
the choke-strap will answer the purpose, if not too long ; 
to this strap secure the ring/, pass the strap e e through 
the ring/, and buckle the straps d d above the hocks. 

We are now ready to drive the horse, going off on a 
moderate gait, that he may become familiar with the 
feel of the straps before urging him. As he moves, the 
strap e e slips through the ring/, allowing the animal 
to move without restraint as long as the legs move 
alternately, as they do in the trot or pace; but the 
instant he attempts to change his gait, he then meets 
the check which the straps give him; he cannot move 
them together as he does in the run, the straps pre- 
venting both legs going back at the same time. 

After he has made a few attempts to " break up " and 
fails, he becomes gradually more steady. We may 
then urge him to the top of his speed without his making 
any effort to go up. Drive him every day with this 
arrangement for three or four weeks, and by that time 
he will, as a general thing, trot perfectly honest and 
remain so. 

This system applies equally well to pacers. Care 
must be taken to adjust the length of the straps to suit 
the horse's step. 



TRICK HORSES. 



HOW TO TEAIJT AND OOFTEOL THEM. 
To teach horses to perform tricks requires a little 
more apparatus than that described in the foregoing 
pages. In addition to the cord and webbing we use 
what are known as the Rarey straps, consisting of the 
short strap and the long strap. 

The Short Strap. — A common breeching strap is all 
that is necessary ; it is used to strap up the foot (see 
engraving). Open the loop, keeping the buckle on the 




THK SHORT STRAP APPLIED. 



outside, put the loop over the foot, then raise the foot 
and pass the strap around the fore arm from the inside, 
and buckle it tight ; this holds the foot up firmly. 

The Long Strap. — This is used for bringing the 
animal to his knees, which is done by pulling up one 

(501) 



502 



SOME SIMPLE TRICKS. 



fore foot while the other is confined by the short strap. 
It is a stout strap seven or eight feet in length, buckled 
to a strap with ring which is placed around the foot. 
The end of the long strap is passed under the girth or 
over the back for the purpose of taking up the foot 
when we want to bring the animal to his knees. (See 
engraving " Learning to Lie Down." 

SOME SIMPLE TEIOKS. 

To Teach a Horse to Lie Down. — Take your posi- 
tion upon the near side ; strap up the near fore foot, 




THE STRUGGLE. 



using the short strap ; have a good strong bridle with 
check pieces, so as to prevent the bit from pulling 
through the mouth. Tie a knot in the bridle-rein over 



TO TEACH A HORSE TO LIE DOWN. 503 

the neck, take a short hold of tiie bridle-rein with the 
left hand, the right hand holding the off rein ; now 
press him backwards, and as you do so he comes down 




LEARNING TO LIE DOWN. 



gently upon his near knee ; let him rest awhile in that 
position. Whenever he attempts to jump pull him 
towards you, and press back as before; after repeating 




COMING ON HIS KNEES. 



this two or three times most horses will lie down ; if 
you do not succeed, however, put on the long strap, 
passing it under the girth, or, what is better, over the 



504 



SOME SIMPLE TRICKS. 



back ; take a short hold of the strap with the right 
hand, pull him towards you with the left hand, and as 
he steps pull up the right foot. This brings him upon 




HELPLESS. 



his knees ; keep him there until he lies down, the*i 
caress him, handle him gently all over, knock his feet 
together ; pull his head up and lay it down carefull} ; 




CONQUERED. 



repeat this operation several times, and he will v*c 
learn to lie down by merely raising the near front foot, 
or lightly tapping it with a whip. 



TO SIT UP. 505 

To Sit Up. — Lay the animal down as previously- 
directed, having a collar upon him ; place a hobble or 
strap, with a ring in it, around each hind foot; take a 
pair of ordinary driving lines, pass the buckle-end 
through the collar back to the ring in the hobbles, and 
buckle them ; pull the feet up towards the shoulders, 
and carry the lines back to 1he hind quarters, hold 
them firmly in one hand, or give them to an assistant. 
Have a bridle with a long rein upon the animal ; take 
the rein in your hand, stand upon the tail, and pull 
upon the bridle-rein, keeping the lines firm at the same 
time; this brings him up in front, and prevents his 
getting his hind feet back far enough to rise upon them, 
they being drawn forward and securely held by the 
lines. Repeat the operation a few times — say two or 
three times a day — and he soon learns to lie down at 
the word. This is the method usually practised upon 
circus horses. 

To Make a Horse Bow.— Stand upon the near side, 
and with a pin in your right hand prick the animal 
lightly in the breast, and say, " Make a bow, sir ;" he 
will soon learn to throw his head downwards; when 
he does so, caress him. By repeating this operation a 
few times he soon learns to bow by merely pointing 
the hand towards his breast, or, if learned, by a mo- 
tion of the foot. In all cases when training horses to 
perform tricks, it is necessary that they should have a 
bridle without winkers, or else have the head bare. 

To Answer Questions. — Take your position as be- 
fore, and with a pin in your right hand, prick him 
lightly anywhere along the mane or over the withers, 
(ask such questions as you want answered in the neg- 



506 SOME SIMPLE TRICKS. 

ative,) this causes him to shake his head exactly as he 
will do when bothered by flies upon the neck during 
fly time. It was this circumstance which suggested 
the use of the pin to make a horse say no. By repeating 
this operation a few times he will shake his head by 
simply raising the hand to your head as if to raise 
your hat ; this motion of the head indicates no. Nod- 
ding the head by pricking the breast signifies yes ; 
always ask the question before making the motion with 
your hand. 

To Kiss You. — To teach a horse to kiss you, take a 
piece of apple in your hand and let the horse smell it; 
he will then try to get it from you. Carry it up to 
your mouth and hold it between your teeth ; let him 
take it from your mouth. Repeat this a few times and 
use the words "Kiss me;" he soon learns that "Kiss 
me," means apple, and he puts up his mouth to yours 
to take it away. 

When operating privately always give it to him, and 
he will then obey you promptly when showing him 
publicly. 

To Shake Hands. — Take your position in front of 
the horse, say " Give me your right foot," or " Shake 
hands ;" he does not understand you ; you convey the 
idea to him by taking a pin and gently pricking him 
upon the right leg; he at once lifts it up; as he does 
so take it in your hand and caress him ; he understands 
by this that he has done w T hat you wanted him to do, 
After repeating this a few times, put your hand towards 
his leg and crack the thumb and fingers; he, antici- 
pating the prick, lifts his foot ; should he fail to do so 
have your pin handy and use it lightly. By this means 



TO KICK WITH THE RIGHT OR LEFT FOOT. 507 

he 30011 learns to give you the foot at the crack of the 
thumb and fingers. As soon as he gives one freely, 
teach him in the same manner to give the other one. 

To Kick With the Right or Left Foot. — Care must 
be taken in teaching this trick, that you have a horse 
not predisposed to vicious propensities, or you may 
make a confirmed kicker ; and then you will have the 
habit to break up. A horse of a mild disposition may 
be taught to perform thus without the risk of his be- 
coming a kicker. I have taught one of my ponies to 
kick when I desire him to do so, and he cannot be made 
to kick unless the whip is used lightly upon his hind 
parts. 

Having selected your animal, take a pin in your 
right hand, prick the near hind leg with it and say, 
" Kick with the left foot;" the animal soon learns to 
obey. Then proceed with the opposite leg in the same 
manner. After the horse will kick with either foot by 
a motion of the hand without pricking him, you will 
stand off a short distance with a long whip in your 
hand; touch the near hind foot and say "Kick with 
the left foot ; " then proceed in the same manner with 
the right foot. By proceeding thus once a day the 
animal wall soon learn to do his part very nicely. 

Learning to Waltz. — Some horses seem to love 
music, and can readily be taught to waltz or dance. 
Use a girth around the body, upon the near side of 
which buckle a short strap, having a loop at one end 
to fasten to the ring of the bit ; draw the strap through 
the girth buckle so as to incline the head a little to the 
near side ; have one or two good pieces of music, and 
play any waltz that may be desired ; at the same time 



508 SOME SIMPLE TRICKS. 

turn the animal by the use of the whip lightly upor 
his legs ; he soon learns to turn merely by a motion of 
the whip without touching him. After repeating this 
lesson once a day for three or four weeks, the strap may 
be removed, leaving his head free. 

To Teach a Colt to Follow You, — Take the cord, 
using the small loop, give him a few quick pulls right 
and left, then take your position on one side opposite 
the shoulder, give a quick pull upon the cord, which 
brings him towards you ; at the same time say, " Come 
here, sir;" as he obeys, caress him. Repeat this until 
he will come without the pull, then take your position 
upon the other side and proceed in the same way. You 
will soon have him so that he will follow in any direc- 
tion. 



HINTS UPON HORSESHOEING. 



A glance at the skeleton of the horse will at once 
serve to convince us that the animal is ormed at the 
same time for strength, and for celerity and ease of 
motion. If we look at the fore limbs we shall see that 
the scapula, No. 3, recedes from the shoulder-joint, 
falling back obliquely ; its upper part uniting with the 
spinous processes of the anterior dorsal vertebrae, No. 




14, to form the withers. The shoulder-bone, No. 4, 
retreats, forming an angle at the elbow joint: the fore 
arm consists of two pieces, No. 5, the radius and ulna 
consolidated as one bone in the mature horse ; this is 
followed by a double row of small bones, No. 9, the 
carpus or wrist bones, seven in number. These are 
succeeded by the metacarpus. No. 10, with two slender 
splint bones attached posteriorly to its upper part. To 

(509) 



510 HINTS UPON HORSESHOEING. 

these succeed the three phalangeal bones, Nos. 11, 12 
and 13. There are besides a small pair of bones situ- 
ated behind the fetlock joint called sessamoides, and a 
small bone situated behind and between No. 12 and 13, 
called the navicular bone. The coffin bone, No. 13, is 
enclosed in the hoof, which consists of thick, firm, 
rounded horn, having a certain degree of expansibility ; 
and underneath, forming a sort of sole, is a part called 
the frog ; it is an elastic cushion, and in a healthy state 
prevents concussion. At each step the frog yields under 
the weight of the animal, and swelling out laterally 
expands the heels of the hoof. 

This frog ought always to touch the ground ; it does 
so naturally, and where bad shoeing prevents it, the 
crust of the hoof soon becomes hard, brittle and un- 
yielding, causing a shock at every step as the animal 
trots over the hard road. Inflammation and alteration 
of structure soon supervene. 

The posterior limbs are modelled on a similar plan. 
Now from the angles which the bones of the limbs make 
with each other at the joints, the force of every shock 
as the animal trots or gallops is greatly broken ; its 
very step is light and elastic; and this not only results 
from the obliquity of the bones in question, but par- 
ticularly from the yielding spring of the pastern, its 
elasticity being provided for by a ligament which 
passes down the back of the cannon bone, No. 10, and 
along the pasterns to the coffin bone 11, 12 and 13. 
Nor is the spring of the elastic frog to be here over- 
looked ; it also contributes an important share to the 
easy progression of the horse, the action of whose limbs 
as he moves is, or ought to be, free, vigorous and 
springy. But alas! how often do we see the knees dis- 
torted with overtoil, and the pasterns rigid and swollen 
from disease 1 



HINTS UPON HORSESHOEING. 511 

Shoeing is generally regarded as a necessary evil ; 
and were it not for our paved streets and turnpiked 
roads, this evil might in a great measure be well dis- 
pensed with. As it is, our object should be to observe 
as closely as possible three important rules in shoeing 
horses : 

1st. To preserve the natural bearing of the foot. 

2d. To preserve the hoof in its natural shape. 

3d. To protect the foot from injury. 

If we observe the foot of the unshod horse, we find 
the hoof has a perfectly level bearing upon the crust or 
wall as it rests upon the ground, as well as upon the 
frog, which, as previously stated, acts as an elastic 
cushion, preventing concussion and expanding the 
heels, which relieves the pressure upon the sensitive 
and delicate structure within the hoof, that otherwise 
would occur were the hoof hard and unyielding. The 
sole or ground surface of the foot is all that part of the 
foot situated between the frog and the crust or wall ; 
this sole should not come in contact with either the 
ground or the shoe. 

In order to preserve the level bearing of the foot, it 
is necessary that the shoe be made with a perfectly level 
surface upon the foot side, for the crust to rest upon. 
Beyond that point it should be bevelled inwards, in 
order to prevent pressure upon the sole. The frog 
should remain untouched with the knife, except to trim 
off any ragged edges. The moment the substance of 
the frog is cut away, that moment it begins to lose its 
moisture, and therefore its elasticity. It becomes as 
hard and brittle often as the hoof itself; its function is 
thus destro}'ed, and it now acts as a foreign body, 
bruising the sole, causing diseases of various kinds to 
arise. 



512 HINTS UPON HORSESHOEING. 

If we examine the feet of horses shod in the ordinary 
manner — and there are few others — we find in place of 
the shoe having a level bearing for the crust, it is 
bevelled from without inwards, so that the foot rests 
upon a concave instead of a level surface. The conse- 
quence is that the heels, instead of expanding up these 
inclined planes, are actually pressed inwards, in con- 
sequence of the lateral pressure thus brought to bear 
upon them. This, as a natural result, causes contrac- 
tion of the hoof sooner or later, causing a hard, brittle 
condition of the hoof, predisposing it to split, producing 
toe, quarter, or other cracks, which never occur in an 
elastic hoof. Corns soon follow contraction of the hoof, 
often producing very severe lameness, and leading to 
diseases of a more serious nature. 

When we have a contracted foot, it is only necessary 
to reverse the bearing of the shoe — that is, the bearing 
at the heels back from the last nail-hole should be very 
slightly bevelled outwards. This has a direct tendency 
to gradually facilitate the expansion of the heels. 

The smith must use great caution in bevelling the 
shoe, to give it a very little slant from the last nail hole 
on either side — not more than the twentieth part of an 
inch ; otherwise more harm than good will be likely to 
follow its application. 

Preparing the Foot For the Shoe. — This, as a me- 
chanical operation, requires a man of good, sound judg- 
ment to properly perform his work The growth of the 
hoof is about equal to its wear when the animal remains 
unshod, otherwise the hoof would be worn too short or 
become too long. Our object, then, in paring the foot, 
is to remove so much of the hoof as would have been 
worn away had not the shoe prevented such w r ear. Any 



APPLYING THE SHOE. 513 

deviation from this rule causes the feet to become un- 
usually long, the sole thick, etc., causing the animal to 
stumble at almost every step. In preparing the foot 
for the shoe, after carefully removing any old stubs that 
might remain, the crust should be lowered with the rasp 
from the toe to the heels, the sole then should be pared 
— with the drawing-knife in preference to the buttress. 
The feet should be poulticed the night before being 
shod, with linseed meal ; this will so soften the hoof as 
to enable the smith to pare the feet without difficulty. 
Care must be taken to remove a portion of the horn 
between the crust and bars, so that the heels of the crust 
shall be higher than the heels of the sole. The bars 
will simply require cleaning out, removing any loose 
portions without diminishing their strength. All 
ragged portions of the frog should be removed, but the 
frog must by no means be cut away merely because the 
smith fancies it to be too large. In weak feet very little 
paring is required ; the heels, however, require the 
nicest care for their protection from injury in shoeing. 
No fixed rules can be laid down for paring the feet; 
that must be determined by the nature and condition 
of them at the time. 

Applying the Shoe. — The shoe should be set as near 
the outer margin of the crust as possible ; by so doing, 
we have the crust as the main support of the foot, as 
nature intended it should be. By setting the shoe back 
a quarter or three-eights of an inch from the outer 
margin of the crust, as is often done, at least one-half 
of the bearing surface of the foot is destroyed. It is 
therefore weakened in exact proportion as it is cut 
away, besides greatly reducing the space for driving 
the nails, thus rendering them more liable to do injury 



514 HINTS UPON HORSESHOEING. 

by being driven too close to the sensitive structure, or 
by pricking the foot. The nails should be pointed with 
great care, in order that they may be driven with a 
greater degree of certainty. Eight nail holes are usu- 
ally punched in the shoe ; but our experience teaches 
us that injury is often prevented by leaving out the 
quarter nail upon the inside of the foot. If it should 
be thought necessary, it may be put in at the toe in- 
stead. 

Clips Upon the Shoe. — These should not be used, 
as they are the frequent cause of an obscure lameness, 
often giving rise to much trouble. The growth of the 
horn being from above downwards, the clip offers an 
obstruction to the growth of the hoof, which cannot be 
overcome ; hence it is turned inwards upon the soft 
structures of the foot. This is readily seen after death, 
in the hoof of a horse which has been shod several years 
with the clip. Removal of the cause will enable the 
animal to get entirely over the lameness in two or three 
months. Horses have been restored to perfect sound- 
ness in this way very frequently, even after a lameness 
of two and three years' standing. When it is thought 
necessary to use a clip, one of the smallest kind should 
be employed. 

" Interfering." — Many horses are in the habit of 
interfering, and many ingenious methods have from 
time to time been devised to prevent this troublesome 
habit. Both the hind and fore legs are subject to cut- 
ting or striking, usually about the fetlock joint. In 
the front feet, however, we sometimes find them striking 
just below the knee-joint, producing an enlargement 
known as a " speedy cut." We should, when this habit 



OVERREACHING. 515 

exists, first ascertain the cause as nearly as possible, and 
the part which strikes, whether the shoe or the foot. 
Many horses interfere only when leg-weary. Particu- 
larly is this the case with colts. Some horses strike 
when shod with heavy shoes, but do not do so with 
light ones. Others interfere from some peculiarity in 
the conformation of the limbs. The most successful 
plan of preventing this habit, is to straighten the inside 
of the shoe from the toe to the quarter, allowing the 
heel of the shoe on the inside the same inclination that 
it would have ordinarily applied. Two nails only 
should be driven on the inside of the foot with this 
shoe. This is an exception to our rule in applying the 
shoe, but it usually has the desired effect. By no means 
make the shoe higher on one side than the other, as it 
causes unequal concussion upon the limb when the 
animal is in motion, thereby predisposing the joints to 
injury. In some rare cases, widening the web of the 
shoe, as well as straightening it upon the inside, has 
the desired effect, when simply straightening fails to 
accomplish the purpose. 

Overreaching. — Many very good horses have this 
troublesome habit. Young horses are more subject to 
overreaching than old ones ; it very frequently disap- 
pears as the speed of the animal is increased. At a 
moderate gait the front feet do not always get out of 
the way in time for the hind ones as they are brought 
forwards, hence a collision takes place. Sometimes the 
heels are cut or bruised badly, and occasionally the 
shoes are torn from the front feet. The most successful 
means of preventing this habit, is to make the front 
shoes a little lighter, which facilitates their motion, the 
animal lifting them up so quickly — the hind ones 



516 HINTS UPON HORSESHOEING. 

should be a little heavier. Trifling as this difference 
may appear, it is very generally successful; an ounce 
of iron will make a very marked difference in the 
movement of most animals, as much so as weight upon 
the back. 

Shoeing Horses With Corns. — The corn should be 
well cut out, and then burned with a red-hot iron, 
muriatic acid, or butter of antimony. The shoe recom- 
mended for contracted feet should be here applied ; the 
hoof backwards from the corn to the heel should be 
removed, so that no part of the hoof back from the corn 
have any bearing upon the shoe ; by this means we 
prevent all concussion that otherwise would fall upon 
the part affected ; the animal thus shod will travel 
sound though the corn be a bad one. Much depends 
upon the careful and skilful application of the shoe, 
independently of its being constructed on proper prin- 
ciples. Many horses with very bad feet are enabled to 
go sound for years by a combination of care and skill, 
while on the contrary a single shoeing done by a bung- 
ling workman would suffice to lame them. It requires 
considerable skill to fit a shoe properly on a bad foot, 
so as to save the weakest parts and economize the horn. 

Keeping the Feet Moist. — When we take into con- 
sideration the unnatural condition in which the feet of 
the horse in a state of domestication are brought, by 
nailing upon them the iron shoe, and standing them 
upon plank floors, we can readily understand why it is 
that the hoof so soon becomes hard, brittle, and con- 
tracted. There is no moisture absorbed by the foot 
from either the shoe or the plank. If we stand the 
horse upon the ground, it is but little better, as such 



SHORT POINTERS FOR HORSEMEN. 517 

floors are usually very dry, or else they are in a filthy 
condition in consequence of the urine which the animal 
has passed off, predisposing the feet to thrush, etc. In 
consideration of the above facts it is our duty to protect 
the feet by artificial means. To do this effectually, the 
feet should be stopped with flaxseed meal mixed with 
water, that is, when the meal is mixed the soles should 
be packed full, say once or twice a week during the 
winter season, and three or four times a week during 
the summer season. This supplies the moisture as well 
as the oily substance necessary to keep the hoof in a 
normal condition. 



SHORT POINTERS FOR HORSEMEN. 



Never quarrel with your horse. 

To make a fine coat, feed well, clothe warmly, sweat 
often and groom thoroughly. 

Never let your horse know that he can successfully 
resist you. 

Once handling a horse produces but a temporary 
effect. 

When a colt is first hitched in a stable be sure to 
have a rope behind him, so that he cannot pull back 
and learn to be a " halter puller." 

Remember that you have no business trying to control 
a horse unless you can first control yourself. An un- 
ruly horse is a jewel compared to an unruly man. 



518 SHORT POINTERS FOR HORSEMEN. 

Drive fast and stop often. 

Never say " whoa " unless you want your horse to 
stop. 

Never use the whip except in the process of training. 
A horse which has to be urged to higher speed by 
means of the whip is improperly educated and no 
credit to his trainer. 

Dark stables produce blind, stumbling and shying 
horses. 

In law, the word " warranted " applies merely to 
soundness ; " warranted sound " has no greater signifi- 
cance. 

If you have a horse which you want to match don't 
tell the dealer or he will make you pay dearly for the 
size and color. 

To remove a horse from a burning stable, blindfold 
him. 

If you don't intend to conquer your horse never 
begin training him at all. 

It will pay you to keep your horse's hoofs moist and 
oily by stuffing them semi-weekly with linseed meal 
poultice. 

Wet the hay for a horse with heaves. 

Never bleed a horse when the membrane lining the 
nose presents a bluish appearance, as it denotes a debil- 
itated condition of the system ; under such circum- 
stances the animal wants a liberal diet, and strong tonic 
treatment 



SHORT POINTERS FOR HORSEMEN. 519 

Never drench a horse if it can be avoided, but always 
administer medicine in the form of ball or powder. 
The anatomical structure of the horse's throat renders 
drenching exceedingly dangerous. 

Drenching is the best way of administering medicine 
to cattle. 

To ball a horse properly, take the tongue in the left 
hand, bringing it out on the off-side of the mouth, then 
take the ball in the right hand between the thumb and 
first two fingers, pass it over the curve of the tongue, 
and let it go ; do not be in too much of a hurry, or you 
will be likely to fail in giving it. 

Never feed corn or corn meal to horses which are not 
in a healthy condition. 

When a horse in harness stumbles and falls, jump 
immediately, and hold down his head so that he may 
not dash it about to his own injury. If you are foolish 
enough to use a check-rein, loosen it, and also all other 
parts of the harness which are attached to the vehicle 
and push the latter back until the shafts are clear of 
the animal, speak low and caress the horse, supporting 
his head and encourage him to rise, first being sure 
that his legs are not tied down by any complication of 
straps. When he rises caress him again, and let him 
stand perfectly free and quiet until his fright has sub- 
sided. Never use harsh language or loud tones in a 
case of this kind. 

An idle horse must have his food reduced in quan- 
tity — not as a punishment, but as a hygienic measure. 

Bad hay is not cheap at any price. 
A hard-worked horse should have oats and corn ; 
hay is good enough for an idle horse. 



520 SHORT POINTERS FOR HORSEMEN. 

A horse cannot stand hard work if his food is con- 
fined to grass and hay any more than a man can carry 
a hod on turnips and cabbage. 

Dissolve a teaspoonful of salt in a bucket of water 
and sprinkle the hay with the mixture. It pleases the 
taste and aids digestion. 

Don't forget that old horses, like old men, lose their 
teeth and their chewing abilities ; therefore, bruise the 
oats and corn, and chop the hay for the old nags who 
can't get " store teeth." You will thus aid the process 
of digestion, utilize all the nutriment in the food and 
prevent diarrhoea and the passing of undigested food. 

Never give your horse warm water to drink ; for cold 
water thereafter will give him the colic. 

To put an unwarmed bit into a horse's mouth in 
frosty weather is rank inhumanity. 

A " blind bridle " is a relic of barbarism. 

A head shelter made of wire and canvas should 
always be used in hot weather ; the addition of a wet 
sponge is desirable. 

Never whip a horse when he shies or stumbles. En- 
couragement is what he needs, not rebuke. 

A horse never needs a harsh or cutting bit after he 
is properly broken. 



